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Regulation of ion channels by secreted Klotho
1Department of Medicine, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA. Chou-Long.Huang@utsouthwestern.edu
Abstract:
Klotho is an anti-aging protein predominantly expressed in the kidney, parathyroid glands and choroid plexus of the brain. Klotho exists in two forms, a membrane form and a soluble secreted form. Recent studies show that the secreted Klotho possess sialidase activity and regulates several ion channels via the activity. Removal of terminal sialic acids from N-glycan chains of the epithelial Ca(2+) channel TRPV5 and the renal K(+) channel ROMK by secreted Klotho exposes the underlying disaccharide galactose-N-acetylglucosamine, a ligand for galectin-1. Binding to galectin-1 at the extracellular surface prevents internalization and leads to accumulation of the channels on the plasma membrane. Future studies will investigate whether secreted Klotho regulates cell-surface expression of other membrane glycoproteins via the same mechanism.
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