Editorial: Targeting pumps, channels and transporters for the treatments of vascular, cardiovascular and kidney diseases

veins; cardiovascular diseases including coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, peripheral 1 arterial disease, rheumatic heart disease, congenital heart disease and deep vein thrombosis and 2 pulmonary embolism; and kidney disease including acute and chronic kidney diseases, diabetes, fluid 3 and electrolyte disorders, glomerulonephritis and glomerular diseases, lupus, hypertension, kidney and 4 pancreas transplantation and kidney-related metabolic disorders. The Human Genome Project has 5 identified more than 406 putative ion channels and 533 extracellular transporter proteins (Venter et al., 6 2001), however only limited number of them has been explored. From those Food and Drug 7Administration (FDA)-approved drugs that on 667 identified unique human protein efficacy targets and 8189 identified pathogen protein efficacy targets, about 18-19% of these targets are ion channels (Santos 9 et al., 2017), highlighting their importance in the disease treatments. 10The Special Issue includes three original research papers and two reviews from prominent researchers 11 in the field and provides readers of the journal with recent results or summaries in the area of 12 mechanisms of ion channels and transporters in vascular, cardiovascular and kidney diseases, as well 13as new strategies for treatment or drug screenings. 14The ether-a-go-go (EAG) channels are a family of voltage-gated K + channels. One member of the family, 15 the human ether-á-go-go-related gene (hERG) K + channel, is crucial for the repolarization of the 16 cardiac ventricular action potential, by conducting a rapidly delayed rectifier K + current (I Kr ) (Abbott et 17 al., 1999). Increased susceptibility to arrhythmias has been found in pathological cardiac hypertrophy 18(pCH) with a reduction of I Kr (Rahm et al., 2018 (Grimm et al., 2003), 42 as well as in sensory nerve cells, where it acts as a heat sensor (Vriens et al., 2011). Liu et al. 43 comprehensively analysed the expression and clinical features of calcium-related genes in kidney renal 44 clear cell carcinoma (KIRC) patients based on the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. The authors 45 found that the calcium-related genes are correlated with T cell-related immune pathways such as T cell 46 differentiation, T cell mediated immunity, T cell cytokine production, T cell proliferation and migration, 47 and T cell receptor signalling pathway, through calculating the Clinical Risk Groups (CRGs)-related 48 risk score. Along with experimental validation, the study found TRPM3 mRNA and protein expression 1 are significantly lower in KIRC patients than in normal controls, and lower TRPM3 expression is associated with poor prognosis in KIRC patients. The study suggests that immunotherapy combined 3 with a modulation of calcium signalling through TRPM3 may be a promising strategy for the treatment 4 of KIRC. 5Hydrogen sulfide (H 2 S) as an important gas transmitter, has been shown playing vital roles in many 6 physiological and pathological processes within the vascular systems. Liu et al. reviewed and discussed 7 the role of H 2 S in the regulation of vascular tone, especially by interaction with different vascular 8 potassium channels and the underlying mechanisms. The authors concluded that some diseases 9 including hypertension, are associated with decreased synthesis of endogenous H 2 S, which could be a 10 potential therapeutic target for the treatment of vascular diseases. 11The transient receptor potential (TRP) multigene superfamily encodes integral membrane proteins that 12 function as ion channels, for examples, TRPV1, Piezo1 and Piezo2 ion channels, allow unparalleled 13 flexibility and maintain intracellular Ca 2+ homeostasis, playing important roles in many physiological 14 functions, such as pressure or temperature sensing, in our body (Zhang et al., 2022). Fallah et al.provided an overview regarding to TRP ion channels, the role of TRP channels in health and disease 16 conditions, TRP channels as potential drug targets, drugs targeting on TRP ion channels, and ion 17 channel screening technologies. In particular, the authors highlighted the application of Aurora's Ion 18Channel Reader (ICR), an updated, radioactive-free version of the ion flux assay platform, for studying 19 ion channels and high-throughput drug screening. 20Overall, this Special Issue summarizes important findings and recent research progress related to ion 21 channels and transporters, their mechanisms of regulation, and new strategies of treatment for vascular, 22 cardiovascular and kidney diseases. The Special Issue provides new research findings about roles of 23 ion channels and transporters in disease pathogenesis and their potential as therapeutic targets. 24