AP2M1

The Adaptor Protein 2 (AP-2) mu 1 subunit, often referred to as AP-2 mu chain, is a core component of the AP-2 adaptor complex. It critical for clathrin-mediated endocytosis (CME), bridging clathrin coats to membrane cargo proteins like receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) and G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) to enable their internalization from the plasma membrane.
Dysregulated AP2M1 disrupts pathways such as EGFR-MAPK and insulin-PI3K/Akt, linking it to autism spectrum disorder (via genetic associations) and cancers (e.g., lung cancer, where abnormal CME fuels uncontrolled proliferation). No direct AP2M1-targeted drugs exist yet, but preclinical studies explore CME inhibitors (e.g., dynasore analogs) to target AP-2-dependent signaling in these diseases.