scholarly journals Cystic fibrosis drug ivacaftor stimulates CFTR channels at picomolar concentrations

eLife ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
László Csanády ◽  
Beáta Töröcsik

The devastating inherited disease cystic fibrosis (CF) is caused by mutations of the Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Conductance Regulator (CFTR) anion channel. The recent approval of the CFTR potentiator drug ivacaftor (Vx-770) for the treatment of CF patients has marked the advent of causative CF therapy. Currently, thousands of patients are being treated with the drug, and its molecular mechanism of action is under intensive investigation. Here we determine the solubility profile and true stimulatory potency of Vx-770 towards wild-type (WT) and mutant human CFTR channels in cell-free patches of membrane. We find that its aqueous solubility is ~200 fold lower (~60 nanomolar), whereas the potency of its stimulatory effect is >100 fold higher, than reported, and is unexpectedly fully reversible. Strong, but greatly delayed, channel activation by picomolar Vx-770 identifies multiple sequential slow steps in the activation pathway. These findings provide solid guidelines for the design of in vitro studies using Vx-770.

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 452 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel Estabrooks ◽  
Jeffrey L. Brodsky

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is the most common lethal inherited disease among Caucasians in North America and a significant portion of Europe. The disease arises from one of many mutations in the gene encoding the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator, or CFTR. The most common disease-associated allele, F508del, along with several other mutations affect the folding, transport, and stability of CFTR as it transits from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) to the plasma membrane, where it functions primarily as a chloride channel. Early data demonstrated that F508del CFTR is selected for ER associated degradation (ERAD), a pathway in which misfolded proteins are recognized by ER-associated molecular chaperones, ubiquitinated, and delivered to the proteasome for degradation. Later studies showed that F508del CFTR that is rescued from ERAD and folds can alternatively be selected for enhanced endocytosis and lysosomal degradation. A number of other disease-causing mutations in CFTR also undergo these events. Fortunately, pharmacological modulators of CFTR biogenesis can repair CFTR, permitting its folding, escape from ERAD, and function at the cell surface. In this article, we review the many cellular checkpoints that monitor CFTR biogenesis, discuss the emergence of effective treatments for CF, and highlight future areas of research on the proteostatic control of CFTR.


2005 ◽  
Vol 19 (12) ◽  
pp. 3038-3044 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louis Chukwuemeka Ajonuma ◽  
Lai Ling Tsang ◽  
Gui Hong Zhang ◽  
Connie Hau Yan Wong ◽  
Miu Ching Lau ◽  
...  

Abstract Ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) remains one of the most life-threatening and potentially fatal complications of assisted reproduction treatments, arising from excessive stimulation of the ovaries by exogenous gonadotropins administrated during in vitro fertilization procedures, which is characterized by massive fluid shift and accumulation in the peritoneal cavity and other organs, including the lungs and the reproductive tract. The pathogenesis of OHSS remains obscure, and no definitive treatments are currently available. Using RT-PCR, Western blot, and electrophysiological techniques we show that cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR), a cAMP-activated chloride channel expressed in many epithelia, is involved in the pathogenesis of OHSS. Upon ovarian hyperstimulation, rats develop OHSS symptoms, with up-regulated CFTR expression and enhanced CFTR channel activity, which can also be mimicked by administration of estrogen, but not progesterone, alone in ovariectomized rats. Administration of progesterone that suppresses CFTR expression or antiserum against CFTR to OHSS animals results in alleviation of the symptoms. Furthermore, ovarian hyperstimulation does not induce detectable OHSS symptoms in CFTR mutant mice. These findings confirm a critical role of CFTR in the pathogenesis of OHSS and may provide grounds for better assisted reproduction treatment strategy to reduce the risk of OHSS and improve in vitro fertilization outcome.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eli Fritz McDonald ◽  
Hope Woods ◽  
Shannon Smith ◽  
Minsoo Kim ◽  
Clara T. Schoeder ◽  
...  

Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is a common genetic disease caused by mutations in the Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Conductance Regulator (CFTR), an epithelial anion channel expressed in several vital organs. Absence of functional CFTR results in imbalanced osmotic equilibrium and subsequent mucus build up in the lungs - which increases the risk of infection and eventually causes death. CFTR is an ATP binding cassette (ABC) transporter composed of two transmembrane domains (TMDs), two nucleotide binding domains (NBDs), and an unstructured regulatory domain. The most prevalent patient mutation is the deletion of F508 (ΔF508), making ΔF508 CFTR the primary target for current FDA approved CF therapies. However, no experimental multi-domain ΔF508 CFTR structure has been determined and few studies have modeled ΔF508 using multi-domain WT CFTR structures. Here, we used cryo-EM density data and Rosetta comparative modeling (RosettaCM) to compare a ΔF508 model with published experimental data on CFTR NBD1 thermodynamics. We then apply this modeling method to generate multi-domain WT and ΔF508 CFTR structural models. These models demonstrate the destabilizing effects of ΔF508 on NBD1 and the NBD1/TMD interface in both the closed and open conformation of CFTR. Furthermore, we modeled ΔF508/R1070W and ΔF508 bound to a the CFTR corrector VX-809. Our models reveal the stabilizing effects of R1070W and VX-809 on multi-domain models of ΔF508 CFTR and pave the way for rational design of additional drugs that target ΔF508 CFTR for treatment of CF.


2018 ◽  
Vol 115 (50) ◽  
pp. 12757-12762 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhe Zhang ◽  
Fangyu Liu ◽  
Jue Chen

The cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) is an anion channel important in maintaining proper functions of the lung, pancreas, and intestine. The activity of CFTR is regulated by ATP and protein kinase A-dependent phosphorylation. To understand the conformational changes elicited by phosphorylation and ATP binding, we present here the structure of phosphorylated, ATP-bound human CFTR, determined by cryoelectron microscopy to 3.2-Å resolution. This structure reveals the position of the R domain after phosphorylation. By comparing the structures of human CFTR and zebrafish CFTR determined under the same condition, we identified common features essential to channel gating. The differences in their structures indicate plasticity permitted in evolution to achieve the same function. Finally, the structure of CFTR provides a better understanding of why the G178R, R352Q, L927P, and G970R/D mutations would impede conformational changes of CFTR and lead to cystic fibrosis.


2009 ◽  
Vol 20 (8) ◽  
pp. 2337-2350 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark R. Silvis ◽  
Carol A. Bertrand ◽  
Nadia Ameen ◽  
Franca Golin-Bisello ◽  
Michael B. Butterworth ◽  
...  

The cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR), a cAMP/PKA-activated anion channel, undergoes efficient apical recycling in polarized epithelia. The regulatory mechanisms underlying CFTR recycling are understood poorly, yet this process is required for proper channel copy number at the apical membrane, and it is defective in the common CFTR mutant, ΔF508. Herein, we investigated the function of Rab11 isoforms in regulating CFTR trafficking in T84 cells, a colonic epithelial line that expresses CFTR endogenously. Western blotting of immunoisolated Rab11a or Rab11b vesicles revealed localization of endogenous CFTR within both compartments. CFTR function assays performed on T84 cells expressing the Rab11a or Rab11b GDP-locked S25N mutants demonstrated that only the Rab11b mutant inhibited 80% of the cAMP-activated halide efflux and that only the constitutively active Rab11b-Q70L increased the rate constant for stimulated halide efflux. Similarly, RNAi knockdown of Rab11b, but not Rab11a, reduced by 50% the CFTR-mediated anion conductance response. In polarized T84 monolayers, adenoviral expression of Rab11b-S25N resulted in a 70% inhibition of forskolin-stimulated transepithelial anion secretion and a 50% decrease in apical membrane CFTR as assessed by cell surface biotinylation. Biotin protection assays revealed a robust inhibition of CFTR recycling in polarized T84 cells expressing Rab11b-S25N, demonstrating the selective requirement for the Rab11b isoform. This is the first report detailing apical CFTR recycling in a native expression system and to demonstrate that Rab11b regulates apical recycling in polarized epithelial cells.


2002 ◽  
Vol 366 (3) ◽  
pp. 797-806 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos M. FARINHA ◽  
Paulo NOGUEIRA ◽  
Filipa MENDES ◽  
Deborah PENQUE ◽  
Margarida D. AMARAL

The CFTR (cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator) gene, defective in cystic fibrosis, codes for a polytopic apical membrane protein functioning as a chloride channel. Wild-type (wt) CFTR matures inefficiently and CFTR with a deletion of Phe-508 (F508del), the most frequent mutation, is substantially retained as a core-glycosylated intermediate in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), probably due to misfolding that is recognized by the cellular quality control machinery involving molecular chaperones. Here, we overexpressed the heat-shock protein (Hsp) 70 chaperone in vivo and observed no changes in degradation rate of the core-glycosylated form, nor in the efficiency of its conversion into the fully glycosylated form, for either wt- or F508del-CFTR, contrary to previous in vitro studies on the affect of heat-shock cognate (Hsc) 70 on part of the first nucleotide-binding domain of CFTR. Co-transfection of Hsp70 with its co-chaperone human DnaJ homologue (Hdj)-1/Hsp40, however, stabilizes the immature form of wt-CFTR, but not of F508del-CFTR, suggesting that these chaperones act on a wt-specific conformation. As the efficiency of conversion into the fully glycosylated form is not increased under Hsp70/Hdj-1 overexpression, the lack of these two chaperones does not seem to be critical for CFTR maturation and ER retention. The effects of 4-phenylbutyrate and deoxyspergualin, described previously to interfere with Hsp70 binding, were also tested upon CFTR degradation and processing. The sole effect observed was destabilization of F508del-CFTR.


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