Voltage-gated calcium channel subunits from platyhelminths : potential role in praziquantel action

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2006. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier B.V. for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in International Journal for Parasitology 36 (2006): 625-632, doi:10.1016/j.ijpara.2006.02.002.

Voltage-gated calcium (Ca2+) channels provide the pathway for Ca2+ influxes thatunderlie Ca2+-dependent responses in muscles, nerves, and other excitable cells. They are alsotargets of a wide variety of drugs and toxins. Ca2+ channels are multisubunit protein complexesconsisting of a pore-forming α1 subunit and other modulatory subunits, including the β subunit.Here, we review the structure and function of schistosome Ca2+ channel subunits, with particularemphasis on variant Ca2+ channel β subunits (Cavβvar) found in these parasites. In particular, weexamine the role these β subunits may play in the action of praziquantel, the current drug ofchoice against schistosomiasis. We also present evidence that Cavβvar homologs are found inother praziquantel-sensitive platyhelminths such as the pork tapeworm, Taenia solium, and thatthese variant β subunits may thus represent a platyhelminth-specific gene family.

Thiswork was supported by PAPIIT grant IN-221702 to MCJ. RMG is supported by NIH grant AI40522 and by the Neal Cornell Research Fund at the Marine Biological Laboratory.