Targeting potassium channels: new advances in cardiovascular therapy.
Potassium channels, which are essential to a wide range of physiological processes, are involved in many diseases. Thus, alterations in such important proteins due to congenital deficiencies or to undesirable side-effects of common medications might lead to dysfunctions. Heart is one of those tissues where potassium channels play a crucial role. The maintenance of cardiac action potential appears to be the consequence of the varied activity of several types of potassium channels. Recently, compounds that modify cardiac potassium channel activity and so alter action potential duration have been developed as new anti-arrhythmic agents. However, several cardiomyopathies appear as undesirable side-effects of the use of drugs that directly or indirectly act on the same potassium channels. Thus, new patents have been created allowing the prediction of the inherited predisposition to any known potassium-linked cardiac channelopathy.
Departament de Bioquímica i Biologia Molecular, Molecular Physiology Laboratory, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
Ramón
R
Martínez-Mármol
Meritxell
M
Roura-Ferrer
Antonio
A
Felipe
D000200:Action Potentials; D000818:Animals; D000889:Anti-Arrhythmia Agents / Q000009:adverse effects*; D001145:Arrhythmias, Cardiac / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D009202:Cardiomyopathies / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D005820:Genetic Testing; D006329:Heart Conduction System / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D010330:Patents as Topic; D026902:Potassium Channel Blockers / Q000009:adverse effects*; D015221:Potassium Channels / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors
D000889:Anti-Arrhythmia Agents; D026902:Potassium Channel Blockers; D015221:Potassium Channels