Essential for the proper assembly of the glomerular and tubular basement membranes in kidney. (Microbial infection) Plays a role in human papillomavirus 16/HPV-16 endocytosis upon binding to cell surface receptor. Interacts with integrins ITGA3:ITGB1, ITGA5:ITGB1, ITGA3:ITGB1 and ITGA6:ITGB4 and with CD9 and CD181 (PubMed:11907260). Interacts (via the second extracellular domain) with integrin ITGAV:ITGB3 (PubMed:27993971). Expressed in a variety of tissues including vascular endothelium and epidermis. Expressed on erythroid cells, with a higher level of expression in erythroid precursors than on mature erythrocytes. By HTLV-1. Palmitoylated. Palmitoylation by ZDHHC2 regulates CD151 expression, association with other tetraspanin family proteins and function in cell adhesion. CD151 defines the MER2=RAPH1 antigen of the RAPH blood group system. 92% of Caucasians are MER2-positive and 8% are apparently MER2-negative. The disease is caused by variants affecting the gene represented in this entry. Belongs to the tetraspanin (TM4SF) family. Blood group antigen gene mutation database