Fig. 2.
Working model for the trafficking of cargo to sites of microvesicle shedding. Recent studies suggest that a variety of proteins, including MHC class I, β1 intergrin receptors and VAMP3 – which are trafficked via specialized early recycling endosomes – are selectively incorporated into microvesicles. It is unclear whether cargo sorting occurs in endosomes so that pre-packaged vesicles are trafficked to the cell surface, or whether sorting occurs at the plasma membrane. Proteins trafficked via other pathways (dashed line) could also be delivered to microvesicles.