A piece in the puzzle: an ion channel candidate gene for schizophrenia.
Mutations in ion channels have been found to cause a variety of mendelian genetic diseases, and polyglutamine repeat expansion is a newly recognized pathogenic mechanism that causes several rare, genetic, late-onset neurological syndromes. Polymorphic polyglutamine tracts are present in a recently described human, calcium-activated potassium channel, KCNN3 (also known as hKCa3), and alleles of this gene that contain longer repeats have been associated with schizophrenia. The physiological function of the channel is consistent with an etiological role in this disease; drugs designed to target this channel might therefore provide novel psychotherapeutics.
Gargus
J J
JJ
Dept of Physiology and Biophysics, University of California, Irvine 92697-4560, USA. jjgargus@uci.edu
Fantino
E
E
Gutman
G A
GA
D000483:Alleles; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000235:genetics; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism; D015195:Drug Design; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011099:Polyglutamic Acid / Q000378:metabolism; D015221:Potassium Channels / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics*; D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate / Q000187:drug effects; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology / Q000235:genetics*; D018911:Trinucleotide Repeats
D015221:Potassium Channels; D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate; D011099:Polyglutamic Acid; D002118:Calcium