A pharmacological master key mechanism that unlocks the selectivity filter gate in K+ channels

Potassium (K⁺) channels have been evolutionarily tuned for activation by diverse biological stimuli, and pharmacological activation is thought to target these specific gating mechanisms. Here we report a class of negatively charged activators (NCAs) that bypass the specific mechanisms but act as master keys to open K⁺ channels gated at their selectivity filter (SF), including many two-pore domain K⁺ (K_2P) channels, voltage-gated hERG (human ether-à-go-go-related gene) channels and calcium (Ca²⁺)-activated big-conductance potassium (BK)-type channels. Functional analysis, x-ray crystallography, and molecular dynamics simulations revealed that the NCAs bind to similar sites below the SF, increase pore and SF K⁺ occupancy, and open the filter gate. These results uncover an unrecognized polypharmacology among K⁺ channel activators and highlight a filter gating machinery that is conserved across different families of K⁺ channels with implications for rational drug design.

The molecular basis for an allosteric inhibition of K+-flux gating in K2P channels

Two-pore-domain potassium (K_2P) channels are key regulators of many physiological and pathophysiological processes and thus emerged as promising drug targets. As for other potassium channels, there is a lack of selective blockers, since drugs preferentially bind to a conserved binding site located in the central cavity. Thus, there is a high medical need to identify novel drug-binding sites outside the conserved lipophilic central cavity and to identify new allosteric mechanisms of channel inhibition. Here, we identified a novel binding site and allosteric inhibition mechanism, disrupting the recently proposed K⁺-flux gating mechanism of K_2P channels, which results in an unusual voltage-dependent block of leak channels belonging to the TASK subfamily. The new binding site and allosteric mechanism of inhibition provide structural and mechanistic insights into the gating of TASK channels and the basis for the drug design of a new class of potent blockers targeting specific types of K_2P channels.

The VAMP-associated protein VAPB is required for cardiac and neuronal pacemaker channel function

Hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated (HCN) channels encode neuronal and cardiac pacemaker currents. The composition of pacemaker channel complexes in different tissues is poorly understood, and the presence of additional HCN modulating subunits was speculated. Here we show that vesicle-associated membrane protein-associated protein B (VAPB), previously associated with a familial form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis 8, is an essential HCN1 and HCN2 modulator. VAPB significantly increases HCN2 currents and surface expression and has a major influence on the dendritic neuronal distribution of HCN2. Severe cardiac bradycardias in VAPB-deficient zebrafish and VAPB^-/- mice highlight that VAPB physiologically serves to increase cardiac pacemaker currents. An altered T-wave morphology observed in the ECGs of VAPB^-/- mice supports the recently proposed role of HCN channels for ventricular repolarization. The critical function of VAPB in native pacemaker channel complexes will be relevant for our understanding of cardiac arrhythmias and epilepsies, and provides an unexpected link between these diseases and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.-Silbernagel, N., Walecki, M., Schäfer, M.-K. H., Kessler, M., Zobeiri, M., Rinné, S., Kiper, A. K., Komadowski, M. A., Vowinkel, K. S., Wemhöner, K., Fortmüller, L., Schewe, M., Dolga, A. M., Scekic-Zahirovic, J., Matschke, L. A., Culmsee, C., Baukrowitz, T., Monassier, L., Ullrich, N. D., Dupuis, L., Just, S., Budde, T., Fabritz, L., Decher, N. The VAMP-associated protein VAPB is required for cardiac and neuronal pacemaker channel function.