离子通道与肿瘤相关性的研究进展

离子通道是一类对离子具有选择通透性跨膜的生物大分子。一些离子通道在肿瘤细胞中表达异常,并在细胞癌变、侵袭和转移等方面起着重要作用;另外,作用于离子通道的药物被发现可以逆转多药耐药,因而离子通道可作为潜在的抗肿瘤靶点。就离子通道与肿瘤相关性研究予以综述。     

大麻二酚对肿瘤中离子通道的作用

大麻是一种古老的药用植物,常被用于缓解疼痛和癫痫发作,但大麻素的成瘾性限制了它的临床使用。大麻的提取物大麻二酚没有精神活性,且不良反应明显小于Δ9-四氢大麻酚,因此受到广泛青睐。离子通道是贯穿细胞膜的亲水性蛋白质孔道,可维持机体生命活动,也与肿瘤的发生发展密切相关。该文主要关注大麻二酚作用的部分瞬时受体电位离子通道、电压依赖性阴离子选择性通道1和T型钙离子通道。大麻二酚是一个多靶点药物,对离子通道的作用受到广泛关注,但其作用机制和结合位点尚不清晰。目前已有关于大麻二酚作用于离子通道的综述及离子通道和肿瘤关系的综述,但鲜有大麻二酚对肿瘤中的离子通道作用的总结。该文主要总结了大麻二酚可能结合的离子通道及其在肿瘤细胞中的可能作用。     

动物离子通道毒素与药物开发

就离子通道和动物离子通道毒素的来源、种类、特性及其对新药开发的意义进行了综述。各种来源的动物毒素通常分子量较小,富含二硫键,是直接作用于分子靶标（如离子通道、受体及酶）的小分子蛋白质。很多动物毒素对电压门控离子通道具有高度的专一性和有效性,具有独特、简洁的三维空间结构。其对新药的发现、设计以及寻找潜在的治疗靶标具有重要的指导意义。     

离子通道与人类遗传病

细胞膜离子通道结构和功能正常是细胞进行生理活动的基础,对离子通道功能具有决定性意义的特定位点的突变导致其开放、关闭或激活、失活功能异常,引起组织机能紊乱,形成各种遗传性疾病。本文从水通道蛋白,钙通道,钠通道,钾通道等多种通道蛋白引起的遗传病的现象以及机理做较深入的阐述。     

波形蛋白与肿瘤关系的研究进展

波形蛋白是中间纤维蛋白的一种,参与细胞骨架与胞膜的形成。研究发现,波形蛋白在多种上皮癌中大量表达,如前列腺癌、乳腺癌及胃肠道肿瘤等,且参与这些肿瘤的发生发展过程,但是目前其具体作用机制尚不清楚。临床研究发现,波形蛋白能够作为肿瘤诊断与治疗的标志物,探讨波形蛋白分子机制研究及在肿瘤发生发展过程中的作用十分重要。本文主要就波形蛋白在几种肿瘤中的表达及其对肿瘤细胞增殖、迁移的作用进行综述。     

离子通道的多功能性

长的瞬时受体电位（longTRP)阳离子通道家族成员的LTRPC2和LTRPC7，作为离子通道，又同时具有蛋白激酶活性。     

TRPM离子通道与人类疾病

TRPM蛋白家族是一类表达于多种哺乳动物细胞中广泛存在的离子通道。近年来发现它们在维持某些特定生理功能中起关 键作用且与人类疾病密切相关。研究显示氧化应激可使TRPM离子通道功能异常导致疾病发生、发展。TRPM亚家族的三个成 员,TRPM2,TRPM4 和TRPM7 均受氧化应激的调控,其功能改变、增加或缺失与炎症及免疫系统的激活、神经退行性疾病和神经 系统疾病、心血管疾病、癌症及糖尿病,代谢紊乱和骨疾病等疾病紧密联系。本文就近年来氧化应激调控的TRPM离子通道与人 类疾病的关系做简要综述。此外,文章也将探讨它们作为药物设计靶点和工具的应用前景。     

Ion channels in neuronal survival

The study of ion channels represents one of the most active fields in neuroscience research in China.In the last 10 years,active research in various Chinese neuroscience institutions has sought to understand the mechanisms responsible for sensory processing,neural development and neurogenesis,neural plasticity,as well as pathogenesis.In addition,extensive studies have been directed to measure ion channel activity,structure-function relationships,as well as many other biophysical and biochemical properties.T...     

Ion channels and apoptosis in cancer

Humans maintain a constant cell number throughout their lifespan. This equilibrium of cell number is accomplished when cell proliferation and cell death are kept balanced, achieving a steady-state cell number. Abnormalities in cell growth or cell death can lead to an overabundance of cells known as neoplasm or tumours. While the perception of cancer is often that of an uncontrollable rate of cell growth or increased proliferation, a decrease in cell death can also lead to tumour formation. Most cells when detached from their normal tissue die. However, cancer cells evade cell death, tipping the balance to an overabundance of cell number. Therefore, overcoming this resistance to cell death is a decisive factor in the treatment of cancer. Ion channels play a critical role in cancer in regards to cell proliferation, malignant angiogenesis, migration and metastasis. Additionally, ion channels are also known to be critical components of apoptosis. In this review, we discuss the modes of cell death focusing on the ability of cancer cells to evade apoptosis. Specifically, we focus on the role ion channels play in controlling and regulating life/death decisions and how they can be used to overcome resistance to apoptosis in the treatment of cancer.     

Ion selectivity of epithelial Na channels

Epithelial Na channels are apparently pore-forming membrane proteins which conduct Na much better than any other biologically abundant ion. The conductance to Na can be 100 to 1000 times higher than that to K. The only other ions that can readily get through this channel are protons and Li. Small organic cations cannot pass through the channel, and water may also be impermeant. The selectivity properties of epithelial Na channels appear to be determined by at least three factors: A high field-strength anionic site, most likely a carboxyl residue of glutamic or aspartic acid residues on the channel protein, probably accounts for the high conductance through these channels of Na and Li and to the low conductance of K, Rb and Cs. A restriction in the size of the pore at its narrowest point probably accounts for the low conductance of organic cations as well as the possible exclusion of water molecules. The outer mouth of the channel appears to be negatively charged and may control access to the region of highest selectivity and may serve as a preliminary selectivity filter, attracting cations over anions. These conclusions are illustrated by the cartoon of the channel in Fig. 3. This picture is obviously both fanciful and simplified, but its general points will hopefully be testable. It leaves open a number of important questions, including: does amiloride block the channel by binding within the outer mouth? what does the inner mouth of the channel look like, and does this part of the channel contribute to selectivity? and what, if any, are the interactions between the features of the channel that impart selectivity and those that control the regulation of the channel by hormonal and other factors?     

Ion channels from chemosensory olfactory neurons

The olfactory epithelium has the ability to respond to a large number of volatile compounds of small molecular weight. Ultimately, such a property lies on a specialized type of neuron, the olfactory receptor cell. In the presence of odorants, the olfactory receptor neuron responds with action potentials whose frequency depends on odorant concentration. The primary events in the process of olfactory transduction are thought to occur at the cilia of olfactory receptor neurons and involve the binding of odorants to receptor molecules followed by the opening of ion channels. A crucial step in understanding olfactory transduction requires identifying the mechanisms that regulate the electrical activity of olfactory cells. In the last couple of years, patch-clamp recording from isolated olfactory cells and reconstitution of olfactory membranes in planar lipid bilayers have begun to shed light on some of these mechanisms. Although the information emerging from such studies is still preliminary, there are already well-defined hypotheses on the molecular events that might underlie the primary events in olfactory transduction. Currently, attention is being focused on the notions that second messengers might be involved in the activation of ion channels in olfactory cilia, and that odorant binding to a receptor molecule might lead directly to the gating of ion channels in chemosensory olfactory membranes. The coming years promise to be exciting ones in the field of olfactory transduction. We have now the necessary tools to be able to confront hypotheses and experimental facts.     

Ion channels in the regulation of autophagy

Autophagy is a cellular process in which the cell degrades and recycles its own constituents. Given the crucial role of autophagy in physiology, deregulation of autophagic machinery is associated with various diseases. Hence, a thorough understanding of autophagy regulatory mechanisms is crucially important for the elaboration of efficient treatments for different diseases. Recently, ion channels, mediating ion fluxes across cellular membranes, have emerged as important regulators of both basal and induced autophagy. However, the mechanisms by which specific ion channels regulate autophagy are still poorly understood, thus underscoring the need for further research in this field. Here we discuss the involvement of major types of ion channels in autophagy regulation.     

Ion channels as antivirus targets

Ion channels are membrane proteins that are found in a number of viruses and which are of crucial physiological importance in the viral life cycle.They have one common feature in that their action mode involves a change of electrochemical or proton gradient across the bilayer lipid membrane which modulates viral or cellular activity.We will discuss a group of viral channel proteins that belong to the viroproin family,and which participate in a number of viral functions including promoting the release of viral particles from cells.Blocking these channel-forming proteins may be"lethal",which can be a suitable and potential therapeutic strategy.In this review we discuss seven ion channels of viruses which can lead serious infections in human beings: M2 of influenza A,NB and BM2 of influenza B,CM2 of influenza C,Vpu of HIV-1,p7 of HCV and 2B of picornaviruses.     

Ion channels are linked to differentiation in keratinocytes

Summary In vivo and in vitro, keratinocyte differentiation is linked with increased extracellular Ca²⁺. In order to correlate ion channels with cell differentiation and investigate keratinocyte membrane responses to Ca²⁺, keratinocyte single channel currents were studied using the patch-clamp technique. The most frequently observed channel was a 14 pS nonspecific cation channel. This channel was permeable to Ca²⁺ and activated by physiological concentrations of Ca²⁺. We also found a 35 pS Cl^– channel whose open probability increased with depolarization. Finally, a 70 pS K⁺ channel was seen only in cell-attached or nystatin-permeabilized patches. We correlated channel types with staining for involucrin, an early marker of keratinocyte differentiation. While the nonspecific cation channel and Cl^– channel were seen in both involucrin positive and involucrin negative cells, all channels in which the K⁺ channel activity was present were involucrin positive. Membrane currents through these channels may be one pathway by which signals for keratinocyte proliferation or differentiation are sent.This work was supported in part by a National Institutes of Health grant K08 AR01853-03 and a National Science Foundation grant DCB-9009915 (to T.M.M.); National Institutes of Health Research Career Development Award K04 ARO 1803 and AR 39031 (to R.R.I.) and a National Institutes of Health grant GM-44840 (to P.A.P.).     

Ion channels and transporters regulate nutrient absorption in health and disease

Ion channels and transporters are ubiquitously expressed on cell membrane, which involve in a plethora of physiological process such as contraction, neurotransmission, secretion and so on. Ion channels and transporters is of great importance to maintaining membrane potential homeostasis, which is essential to absorption of nutrients in gastrointestinal tract. Most of nutrients are electrogenic and require ion channels and transporters to absorb. This review summarizes the latest research on the role of ion channels and transporters in regulating nutrient uptake such as K+ channels, Ca2+ channels and ion exchangers. Revealing the mechanism of ion channels and transporters associated with nutrient uptake will be helpful to provide new methods to diagnosis and find potential targets for diseases like diabetes, inflammatory bowel diseases, etc. Even though some of study still remain ambiguous and in early stage, we believe that ion channels and transporters will be novel therapeutic targets in the future.     

Ion channels and signaling pathways used in the fast polyspermy block

Fertilization of an egg by multiple sperms, polyspermy, is lethal to most sexually reproducing species. To combat the entry of additional sperm into already fertilized eggs, organisms have developed various polyspermy blocks. One such barrier, the fast polyspermy block, uses a fertilization‐activated depolarization of the egg membrane to electrically inhibit supernumerary sperm from entering the egg. The fast block is commonly used by eggs of oviparous animals with external fertilization. In this review, we discuss the history of the fast block discovery, as well as general features shared by all organisms that use this polyspermy block. Given the diversity of habitats of external fertilizers, the fine details of the fast block‐signaling pathways differ drastically between species, including the identity of the depolarizing ions. We highlight the known molecular mediators of these signaling pathways in amphibians and echinoderms, with a fine focus on ion channels that signal these fertilization‐evoked depolarizations. We also discuss the investigation for a fast polyspermy block in mammals and teleost fish, and we outline potential fast block triggers. Since the first electrical recordings made on eggs in the 1950s, the fields of developmental biology and electrophysiology have substantially matured, and yet we are only now beginning to discern the intricate molecular mechanisms regulating the fast block to polyspermy.