Defective ion-channel proteins are responsible for various pathophysiological conditions, including cystic fibrosis, long-QT syndrome, and heritable hypertension, making them potential drug targets.
Ion channels constitute a class of proteins that is ultimately responsible for generating and orchestrating the electrical signals passing through the thinking brain, the beating heart, and the contracting muscle. Using the methods of molecular biology and patch-clamp electrophysiology, investigators have recently cloned, expressed, and characterized the genes encoding many of these proteins. Ion-channel proteins are under intense scrutiny in an effort to determine their roles in pathophysiology and as potential targets for drugs.Defective ion-channel proteins are responsible for cystic fibrosis,1 the long-QT syndrome,2 heritable hypertension (Liddle's syndrome),3,4 familial persistent hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemia of infancy,5,6 hereditary nephrolithiasis (Dent's . . .
Ackerman et al. (Thu,) conducted a review in Ion channel diseases. Defective ion-channel proteins are responsible for various pathophysiological conditions, including cystic fibrosis, long-QT syndrome, and heritable hypertension, making them potential drug targets.