KCNH1 explained
Potassium voltage-gated channel subfamily H member 1 (KV10.1, EAG1) is an ion channel protein that in humans is encoded by the KCNH1 gene.[1] [2] [3] Disease-causing (pathogenic) mutations in the KCNH1 gene cause KCNH1-related disorders, which can include symptoms such as mild-to-severe developmental delay, profound intellectual disability, neonatal hypotonia, myopathic facial appearance, and infantile-onset seizures. Aberrant overexpression of KCNH1 is associated with tumor progression.
Function
Expression of KCNH1 is predominantly restricted to the adult central nervous system.[4] The KCNH1 gene encodes a homotetrameric highly-conserved voltage-gated potassium channel (KV10.1) thought to be responsible for reestablishing the membrane potential of excitatory neurons in response to high frequency firing.[5]
KV10.1 is a non-inactivating delayed rectifier potassium channel. Like other voltage-gated potassium ion channels, opening of the KV10.1 channel pore is triggered by membrane depolarisation, which results in an outward flow of potassium ions to rectify the baseline membrane potential. KV10.1 is slow to open when triggered and does not undergo an inactivation state after closing.
Structurally, KV10.1 is composed of four identical subunits that are each 989 residues long (111.4 kDa). Each subunit is composed of a PAS domain, transmembrane voltage-sensing and pore domains, a C-linker, and an intracellular cyclic nucleotide-binding homology domain. Alternative splicing of this gene results in two transcript variants encoding distinct isoforms that differ by the inclusion or exclusion of 27 amino acids between the S3 and S4 helices of the voltage-sensing domain.
KCNH1 expression is activated in cilia at the onset of myoblast differentiation and known to play roles in the cell cycle and cell proliferation.[6]
Pathologies
Gabbett and colleagues described Temple–Baraitser syndrome (TBS) in 2008, naming the condition after English clinical geneticists Profs Karen Temple and Michael Baraitser.[7] TBS is categorized by intellectual disabilities, epilepsy, atypical facial features, and aplasia of the nails. It was later demonstrated that de novo missense mutations in the KCNH1 gene cause deleterious gain of function in the voltage-gated potassium channel KV10.1, resulting in TBS.[8] Patients with de novo mutations in KCNH1 were found to be affected by epilepsy (without association to TBS), while children born with germline mutations from mosaic probands were affected by TBS. This provides further evidence of the role that genetic mosaicism plays in the etiology of neurological disorders.
Type 1 Zimmermann–Laband syndrome was later found to be caused by similar missense mutations in KCNH1.[9] This has led some researchers to believe that type 1 Zimmermann-Laband and Temple-Baraitser syndromes are different manifestations of the same disorder.[10] [11] Current views are that Zimmermann-Laband and Temple-Baraitser syndromes are part of the greater spectrum of KCNH1-related disorders, which encompass a continuum of severity for mild to severe developmental delay, profound intellectual disability, neonatal hypotonia, myopathic facial appearance, and infantile-onset seizures.[12]
KCNH1 in cancer
Overexpression of KCNH1 may confer a growth advantage to cancer cells and favor tumor cell proliferation, as KCNH1 overexpression has been observed in 70% of solid tumors.[13] Individuals with missense mutations in KCNH1 have not reported any increase in incidence of cancers.
Interactions
KCNH1 has been shown to interact with KCNB1[14] and is inhibited by the highly-conserved secondary messenger calmodulin in the presence of calcium.
See also
Further reading
- Warmke JW, Ganetzky B . A family of potassium channel genes related to eag in Drosophila and mammals . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America . 91 . 8 . 3438–3442 . April 1994 . 8159766 . 43592 . 10.1073/pnas.91.8.3438 . free . 1994PNAS...91.3438W .
- Hoshi N, Takahashi H, Shahidullah M, Yokoyama S, Higashida H . KCR1, a membrane protein that facilitates functional expression of non-inactivating K+ currents associates with rat EAG voltage-dependent K+ channels . The Journal of Biological Chemistry . 273 . 36 . 23080–23085 . September 1998 . 9722534 . 10.1074/jbc.273.36.23080 . free .
- Pardo LA, del Camino D, Sánchez A, Alves F, Brüggemann A, Beckh S, Stühmer W . Oncogenic potential of EAG K(+) channels . The EMBO Journal . 18 . 20 . 5540–5547 . October 1999 . 10523298 . 1171622 . 10.1093/emboj/18.20.5540 .
- Schönherr R, Löber K, Heinemann SH . Inhibition of human ether à go-go potassium channels by Ca(2+)/calmodulin . The EMBO Journal . 19 . 13 . 3263–3271 . July 2000 . 10880439 . 313935 . 10.1093/emboj/19.13.3263 .
- Cayabyab FS, Schlichter LC . Regulation of an ERG K+ current by Src tyrosine kinase . The Journal of Biological Chemistry . 277 . 16 . 13673–13681 . April 2002 . 11834728 . 10.1074/jbc.M108211200 . free .
- Schönherr R, Gessner G, Löber K, Heinemann SH . Functional distinction of human EAG1 and EAG2 potassium channels . FEBS Letters . 514 . 2–3 . 204–208 . March 2002 . 11943152 . 10.1016/S0014-5793(02)02365-7 . 2002FEBSL.514..204S . 8404036 .
- Ottschytsch N, Raes A, Van Hoorick D, Snyders DJ . Obligatory heterotetramerization of three previously uncharacterized Kv channel alpha-subunits identified in the human genome . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America . 99 . 12 . 7986–7991 . June 2002 . 12060745 . 123007 . 10.1073/pnas.122617999 . free . 2002PNAS...99.7986O .
- Farias LM, Ocaña DB, Díaz L, Larrea F, Avila-Chávez E, Cadena A, Hinojosa LM, Lara G, Villanueva LA, Vargas C, Hernández-Gallegos E, Camacho-Arroyo I, Dueñas-González A, Pérez-Cárdenas E, Pardo LA, Morales A, Taja-Chayeb L, Escamilla J, Sánchez-Peña C, Camacho J . Ether a go-go potassium channels as human cervical cancer markers . Cancer Research . 64 . 19 . 6996–7001 . October 2004 . 15466192 . 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-04-1204 . 6791131 .
- Kang J, Chen XL, Wang H, Ji J, Cheng H, Incardona J, Reynolds W, Viviani F, Tabart M, Rampe D . Discovery of a small molecule activator of the human ether-a-go-go-related gene (HERG) cardiac K+ channel . Molecular Pharmacology . 67 . 3 . 827–836 . March 2005 . 15548764 . 10.1124/mol.104.006577 . 35049797 .
- Ziechner U, Schönherr R, Born AK, Gavrilova-Ruch O, Glaser RW, Malesevic M, Küllertz G, Heinemann SH . Inhibition of human ether à go-go potassium channels by Ca2+/calmodulin binding to the cytosolic N- and C-termini . The FEBS Journal . 273 . 5 . 1074–1086 . March 2006 . 16478480 . 10.1111/j.1742-4658.2006.05134.x . 26926041 .
- Weber C, de Queiroz FM, Downie BR, Suckow A, Stühmer W, Pardo LA . Silencing the activity and proliferative properties of the human EagI Potassium Channel by RNA Interference . The Journal of Biological Chemistry . 281 . 19 . 13030–13037 . May 2006 . 16537547 . 10.1074/jbc.M600883200 . free .
- Mello de Queiroz F, Suarez-Kurtz G, Stühmer W, Pardo LA . Ether à go-go potassium channel expression in soft tissue sarcoma patients . Molecular Cancer . 5 . 42 . October 2006 . 17022811 . 1618397 . 10.1186/1476-4598-5-42 . free .
- Ocorr K, Reeves NL, Wessells RJ, Fink M, Chen HS, Akasaka T, Yasuda S, Metzger JM, Giles W, Posakony JW, Bodmer R . KCNQ potassium channel mutations cause cardiac arrhythmias in Drosophila that mimic the effects of aging . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America . 104 . 10 . 3943–3948 . March 2007 . 17360457 . 1820688 . 10.1073/pnas.0609278104 . free . 2007PNAS..104.3943O .
- Ding XW, Yan JJ, An P, Lü P, Luo HS . Aberrant expression of ether à go-go potassium channel in colorectal cancer patients and cell lines . World Journal of Gastroenterology . 13 . 8 . 1257–1261 . February 2007 . 17451210 . 4147004 . 10.3748/wjg.v13.i8.1257 . 1 July 2025 . free .
- Borowiec AS, Hague F, Harir N, Guénin S, Guerineau F, Gouilleux F, Roudbaraki M, Lassoued K, Ouadid-Ahidouch H . IGF-1 activates hEAG K(+) channels through an Akt-dependent signaling pathway in breast cancer cells: role in cell proliferation . Journal of Cellular Physiology . 212 . 3 . 690–701 . September 2007 . 17520698 . 10.1002/jcp.21065 . 39833770 .
- Simons C, Rash LD, Crawford J, Ma L, Cristofori-Armstrong B, Miller D, Ru K, Baillie GJ, Alanay Y, Jacquinet A, Debray FG, Verloes A, Shen J, Yesil G, Guler S, Yuksel A, Cleary JG, Grimmond SM, McGaughran J, King GF, Gabbett MT, Taft RJ . Mutations in the voltage-gated potassium channel gene KCNH1 cause Temple-Baraitser syndrome and epilepsy . Nature Genetics . 47 . 1 . 73–77 . January 2015 . 25420144 . 10.1038/ng.3153 . 52799681 .
External links
Notes and References
- Occhiodoro T, Bernheim L, Liu JH, Bijlenga P, Sinnreich M, Bader CR, Fischer-Lougheed J . Cloning of a human ether-a-go-go potassium channel expressed in myoblasts at the onset of fusion . FEBS Letters . 434 . 1–2 . 177–182 . August 1998 . 9738473 . 10.1016/S0014-5793(98)00973-9 . free . 1998FEBSL.434..177O .
- Gutman GA, Chandy KG, Grissmer S, Lazdunski M, McKinnon D, Pardo LA, Robertson GA, Rudy B, Sanguinetti MC, Stühmer W, Wang X . International Union of Pharmacology. LIII. Nomenclature and molecular relationships of voltage-gated potassium channels . Pharmacological Reviews . 57 . 4 . 473–508 . December 2005 . 16382104 . 10.1124/pr.57.4.10 . 219195192 .
- Web site: Entrez Gene: KCNH1 potassium voltage-gated channel, subfamily H (eag-related), member 1 .
- Web site: 603305 - Potassium channel, voltage-gated; subfamily H, member 1; KCNH1 . Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM) .
- Schmidt H, Farsi Z, Barrantes-Freer A, Rubio ME, Ufartes R, Eilers J, Sakaba T, Stühmer W, Pardo LA, Mortensen LS . KV10.1 opposes activity-dependent increase in Ca2+ influx into the presynaptic terminal of the parallel fibre–Purkinje cell synapse . The Journal of Physiology . 593 . 1 . 181–196 . 2015 . 25556795 . 4293062 . 10.1113/jphysiol.2014.281600 . en . 1469-7793 .
- del Camino D, Sánchez A, Alves F, Brüggemann A, Beckh S, Stühmer W, Pardo LA . Oncogenic potential of EAG K+ channels . The EMBO Journal . 18 . 20 . 5540–5547 . 1999-10-15 . 10523298 . 1171622 . 10.1093/emboj/18.20.5540 . 0261-4189 .
- Gabbett MT, Clark RC, McGaughran JM . A second case of severe mental retardation and absent nails of hallux and pollex (Temple-Baraitser syndrome) . American Journal of Medical Genetics. Part A . 146A . 4 . 450–452 . February 2008 . 18203178 . 10.1002/ajmg.a.32129 . 2532859 .
- Simons C, Rash LD, Crawford J, Ma L, Cristofori-Armstrong B, Miller D, Ru K, Baillie GJ, Alanay Y, Jacquinet A, Debray FG, Verloes A, Shen J, Yesil G, Guler S, Yuksel A, Cleary JG, Grimmond SM, McGaughran J, King GF, Gabbett MT, Taft RJ . Mutations in the voltage-gated potassium channel gene KCNH1 cause Temple-Baraitser syndrome and epilepsy . Nature Genetics . 47 . 1 . 73–77 . January 2015 . 25420144 . 10.1038/ng.3153 . 52799681 .
- Kortüm F, Caputo V, Bauer CK, Stella L, Ciolfi A, Alawi M, Bocchinfuso G, Flex E, Paolacci S, Dentici ML, Grammatico P, Korenke GC, Leuzzi V, Mowat D, Nair LD, Nguyen TT, Thierry P, White SM, Dallapiccola B, Pizzuti A, Campeau PM, Tartaglia M, Kutsche K . Mutations in KCNH1 and ATP6V1B2 cause Zimmermann-Laband syndrome . Nature Genetics . 47 . 6 . 661–667 . June 2015 . 25915598 . 10.1038/ng.3282 . 2108/118197 . 12060592 . free .
- Mégarbané A, Al-Ali R, Choucair N, Lek M, Wang E, Ladjimi M, Rose CM, Hobeika R, Macary Y, Temanni R, Jithesh PV, Chouchane A, Sastry KS, Thomas R, Tomei S, Liu W, Marincola FM, MacArthur D, Chouchane L . Temple-Baraitser Syndrome and Zimmermann-Laband Syndrome: one clinical entity? . BMC Medical Genetics . 17 . 1 . 42 . June 2016 . 27282200 . 4901505 . 10.1186/s12881-016-0304-4 . free .
- Bramswig NC, Ockeloen CW, Czeschik JC, van Essen AJ, Pfundt R, Smeitink J, Poll-The BT, Engels H, Strom TM, Wieczorek D, Kleefstra T, Lüdecke HJ . 'Splitting versus lumping': Temple-Baraitser and Zimmermann-Laband Syndromes . Human Genetics . 134 . 10 . 1089–1097 . October 2015 . 26264464 . 10.1007/s00439-015-1590-1 . 14238362 .
- Sundman AK, Jin S, Vadlamudi L, King GF . The molecular basis of KCNH1-related epileptic encephalopathy and the challenge of developing targeted therapeutics . Brain . September 2025 . 40986435 . 10.1093/brain/awaf353 . free .
- Tomczak AP, Zahed F, Stühmer W, Pardo LA, Urrego D . Potassium channels in cell cycle and cell proliferation . Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences . 369 . 1638 . 20130094 . 2014-03-19 . 24493742 . 3917348 . 10.1098/rstb.2013.0094 .
- Ottschytsch N, Raes A, Van Hoorick D, Snyders DJ . Obligatory heterotetramerization of three previously uncharacterized Kv channel alpha-subunits identified in the human genome . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America . 99 . 12 . 7986–7991 . June 2002 . 12060745 . 123007 . 10.1073/pnas.122617999 . 2002PNAS...99.7986O . free .