title: Voltage-gated Na+ channels: potential for beta subunits as therapeutic targets.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Voltage gated Na(+) channels (VGSCs) contain a pore-forming alpha subunit and one or more beta subunits. VGSCs are involved in a wide variety of pathophysiologies, including epilepsy, cardiac arrhythmia, multiple sclerosis, periodic paralysis, migraine, neuropathic and inflammatory pain, Huntington's disease and cancer. Increasing evidence implicates the beta subunits as key players in these disorders.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To review the recent literature describing the multifunctional roles of VGSC beta subunits in the context of their role(s) in disease.
  
  
  METHODS
  An extensive review of the literature on beta subunits.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  beta subunits are multifunctional. As components of VGSC complexes, beta subunits mediate signaling processes regulating electrical excitability, adhesion, migration, pathfinding and transcription. beta subunits may prove useful in disease diagnosis and therapy.
authors.affiliation: University of Michigan, School of Medicine, Department of Pharmacology, 1150 W. Medical Center Dr, 1301 MSRB III, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-0632, USA.
authors.forename: William J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Brackenbury
authors.forename: Lori L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Isom
mesh_terms: D000927:Anticonvulsants / Q000494:pharmacology; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D006801:Humans; D015640:Ion Channel Gating; D021122:Protein Subunits; D015222:Sodium Channels
chemical_list: D000927:Anticonvulsants; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D021122:Protein Subunits; D015222:Sodium Channels