Transporters and channels are membrane proteins that mediate the traffic of metabolites, water and ions across biological membranes. Membrane transport proteins are crucial to maintain homeostasis and assure cell survival upon intracellular or environmental stress. A failure of any of these transport systems may have dramatic consequences for cell function.
There is increasing evidence that membrane transport proteins play important functions in healthy conditions and that their absence or dysfunction may cause diseases. In recent years much attention has been paid to diseases resulting from defective transporters ("carrier diseases") and ion channels ("channelopathies"). Very interestingly, altered expression of transporters has been described in several human pathologies.
On this basis, many transport proteins are well acknowledged targets for drugs. Many others are involved in drug delivery and disposition and/or are considered potential targets. Others are off-targets for drugs and then, are responsible for side effects. Thus, membrane protein drug discovery is now an emerging field where the search for physiological mechanisms of regulation and for chemical compounds as modulators of transport activity, present new opportunities for drug development and for new therapies.
This Research Topic addresses the latest research advances in membrane transport proteins, stimulating future research on these important protein families. This collection encourages scientists to develop novel approaches for the treatment of human diseases based on membrane protein function or dysfunction.
We sincerely welcome high quality original research and review papers addressing this topic. Possible research themes include but are not limited to:
• Physiological and pathophysiological roles of channels and transporters in prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells
• Transporters and channels as drug targets
• Development of inhibitors and activity modulators for diagnostics and therapeutics
• Drug transport and pharmacokinetics
• Mechanisms of membrane transport and regulation in pathophysiology
• Structure-activity relationships and applications to drug discovery
• Analytical methods for bio-molecular screening
• Genomic research of channels and transporters
Transporters and channels are membrane proteins that mediate the traffic of metabolites, water and ions across biological membranes. Membrane transport proteins are crucial to maintain homeostasis and assure cell survival upon intracellular or environmental stress. A failure of any of these transport systems may have dramatic consequences for cell function.
There is increasing evidence that membrane transport proteins play important functions in healthy conditions and that their absence or dysfunction may cause diseases. In recent years much attention has been paid to diseases resulting from defective transporters ("carrier diseases") and ion channels ("channelopathies"). Very interestingly, altered expression of transporters has been described in several human pathologies.
On this basis, many transport proteins are well acknowledged targets for drugs. Many others are involved in drug delivery and disposition and/or are considered potential targets. Others are off-targets for drugs and then, are responsible for side effects. Thus, membrane protein drug discovery is now an emerging field where the search for physiological mechanisms of regulation and for chemical compounds as modulators of transport activity, present new opportunities for drug development and for new therapies.
This Research Topic addresses the latest research advances in membrane transport proteins, stimulating future research on these important protein families. This collection encourages scientists to develop novel approaches for the treatment of human diseases based on membrane protein function or dysfunction.
We sincerely welcome high quality original research and review papers addressing this topic. Possible research themes include but are not limited to:
• Physiological and pathophysiological roles of channels and transporters in prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells
• Transporters and channels as drug targets
• Development of inhibitors and activity modulators for diagnostics and therapeutics
• Drug transport and pharmacokinetics
• Mechanisms of membrane transport and regulation in pathophysiology
• Structure-activity relationships and applications to drug discovery
• Analytical methods for bio-molecular screening
• Genomic research of channels and transporters