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It has recently been shown that hepatocyte growth factor activator inhibitor-2 (HAI-2) is able to suppress carcinogenesis induced by overexpression of matriptase, as well as cause regression of individual established tumors in a mouse model system. However, the role of HAI-2 is poorly understood. In this study, we describe 3 mutations in the binding loop of the HAI-2 Kunitz domain 1 (K42N, C47F and R48L) that cause a delay in the SEA domain cleavage of matriptase, leading to accumulation of non-SEA domain cleaved matriptase in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). We suggest that, like other known SEA domains, the matriptase SEA domain auto-cleaves and reflects that correct oligomerization, maturation, and/or folding has been obtained. Our results suggest that the HAI-2 Kunitz domain 1 mutants influence the flux of matriptase to the plasma membrane by affecting the oligomerization, maturation and/or folding of matriptase, and as a result the SEA domain cleavage of matriptase. Two of the HAI-2 Kunitz domain 1 mutants investigated (C47F, R48L and C47F/R48L) also displayed a reduced ability to proteolytically silence matriptase. Hence, HAI-2 separately stabilizes matriptase, regulates the secretory transport, possibly via maturation/oligomerization and inhibits the proteolytic activity of matriptase in the ER, and possible throughout the secretory pathway.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The voltage-gated potassium channel KV11.1 has been originally cloned from the brain and is expressed in a variety of tissues. The role of phosphorylation for channel function is a matter of debate. In this study, we aimed to elucidate the extent and role of protein kinase D mediated phosphorylation.METHODS: We employed mass spectrometry, whole-cell patch clamp electrophysiology, confocal microscopy, site-directed mutagenesis, and western blotting.RESULTS: Using brain tissue from rat and mouse, we mapped several phosphorylated KV11.1 residues by LC-MS mass spectrometry and identified protein kinase D (PKD1) as possible regulatory kinase. Co-expression of KV11.1 with PKD1 reduced current amplitudes without altering protein levels or surface expression of the channel. Based on LC-MS results from in vivo and HEK293 cell experiments we chose four KV11.1 mutant candidates for further functional analysis. Ablation of the putative PKD phosphorylation site in the mutant S284A increased the maximal current indicating S284 as a main PKD target in KV11.1.CONCLUSIONS: Our data might help mitigating a long-standing controversy in the field regarding PKC regulation of KV11.1. We propose that PKD1 mediates the PKC effects on KV11.1 and we found that PKD targets S284 in the N-terminus of the channel.

Aims The purpose of this study was to investigate the functional role of G-protein-coupled inward rectifier potassium (GIRK) channels in the cardiac ventricle. Methods and results Immunofluorescence experiments demonstrated that GIRK4 was localized in outer sarcolemmas and t-tubules in GIRK1 knockout (KO) mice, whereas GIRK4 labelling was not detected in GIRK4 KO mice. GIRK4 was localized in intercalated discs in rat ventricle, whereas it was expressed in intercalated discs and outer sarcolemmas in rat atrium. GIRK4 was localized in t-tubules and intercalated discs in human ventricular endocardium and epicardium, but absent in mid-myocardium. Electrophysiological recordings in rat ventricular tissue ex vivo showed that the adenosine A1 receptor agonist N 6-cyclopentyladenosine (CPA) and acetylcholine (ACh) shortened action potential duration (APD), and that the APD shortening was reversed by either the GIRK channel blocker tertiapin-Q, the adenosine A1 receptor antagonist DPCPX or by the muscarinic M2 receptor antagonist AF-DX 116. Tertiapin-Q prolonged APD in the absence of the exogenous receptor activation. Furthermore, CPA and ACh decreased the effective refractory period and the effect was reversed by either tertiapin-Q, DPCPX or AF-DX 116. Receptor activation also hyperpolarized the resting membrane potential, an effect that was reversed by tertiapin-Q. In contrast, tertiapin-Q depolarized the resting membrane potential in the absence of the exogenous receptor activation. Conclusion Confocal microscopy shows that among species GIRK4 is differentially localized in the cardiac ventricle, and that it is heterogeneously expressed across human ventricular wall. Electrophysiological recordings reveal that GIRK current may contribute significantly to ventricular repolarization and thereby to cardiac electrical stability.

Brugada syndrome (BrS) is a rare inherited disease that can give rise to ventricular arrhythmia and ultimately sudden cardiac death. Numerous loss-of-function mutations in the cardiac sodium channel Nav1.5 have been associated with BrS. However, few mutations in the auxiliary Navβ1–4 subunits have been linked to this disease. Here we investigated differences in expression and function between Navβ1 and Navβ1b and whether the H162P/Navβ1b mutation found in a BrS patient is likely to be the underlying cause of disease. The impact of Navβ subunits was investigated by patch-clamp electrophysiology, and the obtained in vitro values were used for subsequent in silico modeling. We found that Navβ1b transcripts were expressed at higher levels than Navβ1 transcripts in the human heart. Navβ1 and Navβ1b coexpressed with Nav1.5 induced a negative shift on steady state of activation and inactivation compared with Nav1.5 alone. Furthermore, Navβ1b was found to increase the current level when coexpressed with Nav1.5, Navβ1b/H162P mutated subunit peak current density was reduced by 48% (−645 ± 151 vs. −334 ± 71 pA/pF), V1/2 steady-state inactivation shifted by −6.7 mV (−70.3 ± 1.5 vs. −77.0 ± 2.8 mV), and time-dependent recovery from inactivation slowed by >50% compared with coexpression with Navβ1b wild type. Computer simulations revealed that these electrophysiological changes resulted in a reduction in both action potential amplitude and maximum upstroke velocity. The experimental data thereby indicate that Navβ1b/H162P results in reduced sodium channel activity functionally affecting the ventricular action potential. This result is an important replication to support the notion that BrS can be linked to the function of Navβ1b and is associated with loss-of-function of the cardiac sodium channel.

Epithelial cell polarization involves several kinase signaling cascades that eventually divide the surface membrane into an apical and a basolateral part. One kinase, which is activated during the polarization process, is phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K). In MDCK cells, the basolateral potassium channel Kv7.1 requires PI3K activity for surface-expression during the polarization process. Here, we demonstrate that Kv7.1 surface expression requires tonic PI3K activity as PI3K inhibition triggers endocytosis of these channels in polarized MDCK. Pharmacological inhibition of SGK1 gave similar results as PI3K inhibition, whereas overexpression of constitutively active SGK1 overruled it, suggesting that SGK1 is the primary downstream target of PI3K in this process. Furthermore, knockdown of the ubiquitin ligase Nedd4-2 overruled PI3K inhibition, whereas a Nedd4-2 interaction-deficient Kv7.1 mutant was resistant to both PI3K and SGK1 inhibition. Altogether, these data suggest that a PI3K-SGK1 pathway stabilizes Kv7.1 surface expression by inhibiting Nedd4-2-dependent endocytosis and thereby demonstrates that Nedd4-2 is a key regulator of Kv7.1 localization and turnover in epithelial cells.

The two-pore domain potassium channel, K2P3.1 (TASK-1) modulates background conductance in isolated human atrial cardiomyocytes and has been proposed as a potential drug target for atrial fibrillation (AF). TASK-1 knockout mice have a predominantly ventricular phenotype however, and effects of TASK-1 inactivation on atrial structure and function have yet to be demonstrated in vivo. The extent to which genetic variation in KCNK3, that encodes TASK-1, might be a determinant of susceptibility to AF is also unknown. To address these questions, we first evaluated the effects of transient knockdown of the zebrafish kcnk3a and kcnk3b genes and cardiac phenotypes were evaluated using videomicroscopy. Combined kcnk3a and kcnk3b knockdown in 72 hour post fertilization embryos resulted in lower heart rate (p0.001), marked increase in atrial diameter (p0.001), and mild increase in end-diastolic ventricular diameter (p=0.01) when compared with control-injected embryos. We next performed genetic screening of KCNK3 in two independent AF cohorts (373 subjects) and identified three novel KCNK3 variants. Two of these variants, present in one proband with familial AF, were located at adjacent nucleotides in the Kozak sequence and reduced expression of an engineered reporter. A third missense variant, V123L, in a patient with lone AF, reduced resting membrane potential and altered pH sensitivity in patch-clamp experiments, with structural modeling predicting instability in the vicinity of the TASK-1 pore. These in vitro data suggest that the double Kozak variants and V123L will have loss-of-function effects on ITASK. Cardiac action potential modeling predicted that reduced ITASK prolongs atrial action potential duration, and that this is potentiated by reciprocal changes in activity of other ion channel currents. Our findings demonstrate the functional importance of ITASK in the atrium and suggest that inactivation of TASK-1 may have diverse effects on atrial size and electrophysiological properties that can contribute to an arrhythmogenic substrate.

Hepatocyte growth factor activator inhibitor-2 (HAI-2) is an inhibitor of many proteases in vitro, including the membrane-bound serine protease, matriptase. Studies of knock-out mice have shown that HAI-2 is essential for placental development only in mice expressing matriptase, suggesting that HAI-2 is important for regulation of matriptase. Previous studies have shown that recombinant expression of matriptase was unsuccessful unless co-expressed with another HAI, HAI-1. In the present study we show that when human matriptase is recombinantly expressed alone in the canine cell line MDCK, then human matriptase mRNA can be detected and the human matriptase ectodomain is shed to the media, suggesting that matriptase expressed alone is rapidly transported through the secretory pathway and shed. Whereas matriptase expressed together with HAI-1 or HAI-2 accumulates on the plasma membrane where it is activated, as judged by cleavage at Arg614 and increased peptidolytic activity of the cell extracts. Mutagenesis of Kunitz domain 1 but not Kunitz domain 2 abolished this function of HAI-2. HAI-2 seems to carry out its function intracellularly as this is where the vast majority of HAI-2 is located and since HAI-2 could not be detected on the basolateral plasma membrane where matriptase resides. However, minor amounts of HAI-2 not undergoing endocytosis could be detected on the apical plasma membrane. Our results suggest that Kunitz domain 1 of HAI-2 cause matriptase to accumulate in a membrane-bound form on the basolateral plasma membrane.

Aims Genetic factors may be important in the development of atrial fibrillation (AF) in the young. KCNA5 encodes the potassium channel α-subunit KV1.5, which underlies the voltage-gated atrial-specific potassium current I Kur. KCNAB2 encodes KVβ2, a β-subunit of KV1.5, which increases I Kur. Three studies have identified loss-of-function mutations in KCNA5 in patients with idiopathic AF. We hypothesized that early-onset lone AF is associated with high prevalence of genetic variants in KCNA5 and KCNAB2 . Methods and results The coding sequences of KCNA5 and KCNAB2 were sequenced in 307 patients with mean age of 33 years at the onset of lone AF, and in 216 healthy controls. We identified six novel non-synonymous mutations [E48G, Y155C, A305T (twice), D322H, D469E, and P488S] in KCNA5 in seven patients. None were present in controls. We identified a significantly higher frequency of rare deleterious variants in KCNA5 in the patients than in controls. The mutations were analysed with confocal microscopy and whole-cell patch-clamp techniques. The mutant proteins Y155C, D469E, and P488S displayed decreased surface expression and loss-of-function in patch-clamp studies, whereas E48G, A305T, and D322H showed preserved surface expression and gain-of-function for KV1.5. Conclusion This study is the first to present gain-of-function mutations in KCNA5 in patients with early-onset lone AF. We identified three gain-of-function and three loss-of-function mutations. We report a high prevalence of variants in KCNA5 in these patients. This supports the hypothesis that both increased and decreased potassium currents enhance AF susceptibility.

The potassium channel Kv7.1 is expressed in the heart, where it contributes to the repolarization of the cardiac action potential. Additionally, Kv7.1 is expressed in epithelial tissues playing a role in salt and water transport. We recently demonstrated that surface-expressed Kv7.1 is internalized in response to polarization of the epithelial Madin–Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cell line and that this was mediated by activation of protein kinase C (PKC). In this study, the pathway downstream of PKC, which leads to internalization of Kv7.1 upon cell polarization, is elucidated. We show by confocal microscopy that Kv7.1 is endocytosed upon initiation of the polarization process and sent for degradation by the lysosomal pathway. The internalization could be mimicked by pharmacological activation of the AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) using three different AMPK activators. We demonstrate that the downstream effector of AMPK is the E3 ubiquitin ligase Nedd4-2. Additionally, we show that AMPK activation results in a downregulation of Kv7.1 currents in Xenopus oocytes through a Nedd4-2-dependent mechanism. In summary, surface-expressed Kv7.1 channels are endocytosed and sent for degradation in lysosomes by an AMPK-mediated activation of Nedd4-2 during the initial phase of the MDCK cell polarization process.