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。     

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。     

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。     

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 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 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 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 of the mammalian urethra

The mammalian urethra is a muscular tube responsible for ensuring that urine remains in the urinary bladder until urination. In order to prevent involuntary urine leakage, the urethral musculature must be capable of constricting the urethral lumen to an extent that exceeds bladder intravesicular pressure during the urine-filling phase. The main challenge in anti-incontinence treatments involves selectively-controlling the excitability of the smooth muscles in the lower urinary tract. Almost all strategies to battle urinary incontinence involve targeting the bladder and as a result, this tissue has been the focus for the majority of research and development efforts. There is now increasing recognition of the value of targeting the urethral musculature in the treatment and management of urinary incontinence. Newly-identified and characterized ion channels and pathways in the smooth muscle of the urethra provides a range of potential therapeutic targets for the treatment of urinary incontinence. This review provides a summary of the current state of knowledge of the ion channels discovered in urethral smooth muscle cells that regulate their excitability.     

Ion channels as pharmacologic receptors: The chirality of drug interactions

Ion channels are pharmocologic receptors and as such exhibit stereoselective interactions with drugs. Ion channels are conformationally mobile transmembrane proteins existing in a number of open and closed states. Drug interactions with these different states may differ quantitatively and qualitatively. Stereoselectivity may not be a constant factor and may change according to channel state as determined by stimulus mode or experimental conditions. Selected examples are cited for Na⁺ and Ca²⁺ channels. © 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Ion channels and the transduction of light signals

Studies of biological light‐sensing mechanisms are revealing important roles for ion channels. Photosensory transduction in plants is no exception. In this article, the evidence that ion channels perform such signal‐transducing functions in the complex array of mechanisms that bring about plant photomorphogenesis will be reviewed and discussed. The examples selected for discussion range from light‐gradient detection in unicellular algae to the photocontrol of stem growth in Arabidopsis. Also included is some discussion of the technical aspects of studies that combine electrophysiology and photobiology.     

Ion channels and transporters in the development of drug resistance in cancer cells

Multi-drug resistance (MDR) to chemotherapy is the major challenge in the treatment of cancer. MDR can develop by numerous mechanisms including decreased drug uptake, increased drug efflux and the failure to undergo drug-induced apoptosis. Evasion of drug-induced apoptosis through modulation of ion transporters is the main focus of this paper and we demonstrate how pro-apoptotic ion channels are downregulated, while anti-apoptotic ion transporters are upregulated in MDR. We also discuss whether upregulation of ion transport proteins that are important for proliferation contribute to MDR. Finally, we discuss the possibility that the development of MDR involves sequential and localized upregulation of ion channels involved in proliferation and migration and a concomitant global and persistent downregulation of ion channels involved in apoptosis.     

Ion channels in the membrane ofChara inflata

Summary Voltage-clamped steps in the electric potential difference (PD) across the membrane in cells of the green alga,Chara inflata, cause voltage- and time-dependent current flows, interpreted to arise from opening and closing of various types of ion channel in the membrane. With cells in the light, these channels are normally closed, and the resting PD is probably determined by the operation of an H⁺ efflux pump. Positive steps in PD from the resting level often caused the opening of K⁺ channels with sigmoid kinetics. The channels began to show opening when the PD–120 mV for an external concentration of K⁺ of 1.0mm. Return of the PD to the resting level caused closing of the channels with complex kinetics. Various treatments of the cell could cause these K⁺ channels to open, and remain open continuously, with the PD then lying closer to the Nernst PD for K⁺. The K⁺ channels have been identified by the blocking effects of TEA⁺. Another group of channels, probably Cl^– and Ca²⁺ associated with the action potential open when the PD is stepped to values less negative than –50 mV. Negative steps from the resting PD cause the slow opening, with a time course of seconds, of yet another type of channel, probably Cl^–.