hERG channel function: beyond long QT
Abstract
Joseph J BABCOCK, Min LI*
Department of Neuroscience, High Throughput Biology Center and Johns Hopkins Ion Channel Center (JHICC), School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, 733 North Broadway, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
To date, research on the human ether-a-go-go related gene (hERG) has focused on this potassium channel’s role in cardiac repolarization and Long QT Syndrome (LQTS). However, growing evidence implicates hERG in a diversity of physiologic and pathological processes. Here we discuss these other functions of hERG, particularly their impact on diseases beyond cardiac arrhythmia.
Keywords: long QT; hERG; cardiotoxicity; cancer; potassium channel
We thank the colleagues in Min LI’s laboratory for valuable discussions, and Alison Neal for editorial assistance. This work is supported by grants to Min LI from the National Institutes of Health (GM078579, MH084691) and Maryland Stem Cell Research Foundation (2010-MSCRFE-0164-00).
* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
E-mail minli@jhmi.edu
Received 2012-12-07 Accepted 2012-01-19
Keywords:
Department of Neuroscience, High Throughput Biology Center and Johns Hopkins Ion Channel Center (JHICC), School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, 733 North Broadway, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
To date, research on the human ether-a-go-go related gene (hERG) has focused on this potassium channel’s role in cardiac repolarization and Long QT Syndrome (LQTS). However, growing evidence implicates hERG in a diversity of physiologic and pathological processes. Here we discuss these other functions of hERG, particularly their impact on diseases beyond cardiac arrhythmia.
Keywords: long QT; hERG; cardiotoxicity; cancer; potassium channel
We thank the colleagues in Min LI’s laboratory for valuable discussions, and Alison Neal for editorial assistance. This work is supported by grants to Min LI from the National Institutes of Health (GM078579, MH084691) and Maryland Stem Cell Research Foundation (2010-MSCRFE-0164-00).
* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
E-mail minli@jhmi.edu
Received 2012-12-07 Accepted 2012-01-19