KCNE genetics and pharmacogenomics in cardiac arrhythmias: much ado about nothing?

ABSTRACT: Voltage-gated ion channels respond to changes in membrane potential with conformational shifts that either facilitate or stem the movement of charged ions across the cell membrane. This controlled movement of ions is particularly important for the action potentials of excitable cells such as cardiac myocytes and therefore essential for timely beating of the heart. Inherited mutations in ion channel genes and in the genes encoding proteins that regulate them can cause lethal cardiac arrhythmias either by direct channel disruption or by altering interactions with therapeutic drugs, the best-understood example of both these scenarios being long QT syndrome (LQTS). Unsurprisingly, mutations in the genes encoding ion channel pore-forming α subunits underlie the large majority (~90%) of identifi

SUBMITTER: Abbott GW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4917007 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature