Voltage-gated K+ channels in human T lymphocytes: a role in mitogenesis?

Nature ◽  
1984 ◽  
Vol 307 (5950) ◽  
pp. 465-468 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas E. DeCoursey ◽  
K. George Chandy ◽  
Sudhir Gupta ◽  
Michael D. Cahalan
1989 ◽  
Vol 93 (6) ◽  
pp. 1061-1074 ◽  
Author(s):  
S B Sands ◽  
R S Lewis ◽  
M D Cahalan

A variety of scorpion venoms and purified toxins were tested for effects on ion channels in human T lymphocytes, a human T leukemia cell line (Jurkat), and murine thymocytes, using the whole-cell patch-clamp method. Nanomolar concentrations of charbdotoxin (CTX), a purified peptide component of Leiurus quinquestriatus venom known to block Ca2+-activated K+ channels from muscle, blocked "type n" voltage-gated K+ channels in human T lymphoid cells. The Na+ channels occasionally expressed in these cells were unaffected by the toxin. From the time course of development and removal of K+ channel block we determined the rates of CTX binding and unbinding. CTX blocks K+ channels in Jurkat cells with a Kd value between 0.5 and 1.5 nM. Of the three types of voltage-gated K+ channels present in murine thymocytes, types n and n' are blocked by CTX at nanomolar concentrations. The third variety of K+ channels, "type l," is unaffected by CTX. Noxiustoxin (NTX), a purified toxin from Centruroides noxius known to block Ca2+-activated K+ channels, also blocked type n K+ channels with a high degree of potency (Kd = 0.2 nM). In addition, several types of crude scorpion venoms from the genera Androctonus, Buthus, Centruroides, and Pandinus blocked type n channels. We conclude that CTX and NTX are not specific for Ca2+ activated K+ channels and that purified scorpion toxins will provide useful probes of voltage-gated K+ channels in T lymphocytes. The existence of high-affinity sites for scorpion toxin binding may help to classify structurally related K+ channels and provide a useful tool for their biochemical purification.


1996 ◽  
Vol 52 (6) ◽  
pp. 843-849 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerzy W. Mozrzymas ◽  
Andrzej Teisseyre ◽  
Franco Vittur

1985 ◽  
Vol 358 (1) ◽  
pp. 197-237 ◽  
Author(s):  
M D Cahalan ◽  
K G Chandy ◽  
T E DeCoursey ◽  
S Gupta

1998 ◽  
Vol 188 (9) ◽  
pp. 1593-1602 ◽  
Author(s):  
George R. Ehring ◽  
Hubert H. Kerschbaum ◽  
Claudia Eder ◽  
Amber L. Neben ◽  
Christopher M. Fanger ◽  
...  

The mechanism by which progesterone causes localized suppression of the immune response during pregnancy has remained elusive. Using human T lymphocytes and T cell lines, we show that progesterone, at concentrations found in the placenta, rapidly and reversibly blocks voltage-gated and calcium-activated K+ channels (KV and KCa, respectively), resulting in depolarization of the membrane potential. As a result, Ca2+ signaling and nuclear factor of activated T cells (NF-AT)-driven gene expression are inhibited. Progesterone acts distally to the initial steps of T cell receptor (TCR)-mediated signal transduction, since it blocks sustained Ca2+ signals after thapsigargin stimulation, as well as oscillatory Ca2+ signals, but not the Ca2+ transient after TCR stimulation. K+ channel blockade by progesterone is specific; other steroid hormones had little or no effect, although the progesterone antagonist RU 486 also blocked KV and KCa channels. Progesterone effectively blocked a broad spectrum of K+ channels, reducing both Kv1.3 and charybdotoxin–resistant components of KV current and KCa current in T cells, as well as blocking several cloned KV channels expressed in cell lines. Progesterone had little or no effect on a cloned voltage-gated Na+ channel, an inward rectifier K+ channel, or on lymphocyte Ca2+ and Cl− channels. We propose that direct inhibition of K+ channels in T cells by progesterone contributes to progesterone-induced immunosuppression.


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