title: Connexin mimetic peptides: specific inhibitors of gap-junctional intercellular communication.
abstract: Intercellular co-operation is a fundamental and widespread feature in tissues and organs. An important mechanism ensuring multicellular homoeostasis involves signalling between cells via gap junctions that directly connect the cytosolic contents of adjacent cells. Cell proliferation and intercellular communication across gap junctions are closely linked, and a number of pathologies in which communication is disrupted are known where connexins, the gap-junctional proteins, are modified. The proteins of gap junctions thus emerge as therapeutic targets inviting the development and exploitation of chemical tools and drugs that specifically influence intercellular communication. Connexin mimetic peptides that correspond to short specific sequences in the two extracellular loops of connexins are a class of benign, specific and reversible inhibitors of gap-junctional communication that have been studied recently in a broad range of cells, tissues and organs. This review summarizes the properties and uses of these short synthetic peptides, and compares their probable mechanism of action with those of a wide range of other less specific traditional gap-junction inhibitors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Biochemistry and Wales Heart Research Institute, University of Wales College of Medicine, Cardiff CF4 4XN, UK. wmb.whe@cf.ac.uk
authors.forename: W H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Evans
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Boitano
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D020013:Calcium Signaling / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D002450:Cell Communication / Q000187:drug effects*; D017630:Connexins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D017629:Gap Junctions / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010455:Peptides / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D014132:Trachea / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D017630:Connexins; D010455:Peptides