Title: Novel mechanisms of trafficking defect caused by KCNQ1 mutations found in long QT syndrome.

Authors: Akinori Sato, Takuro Arimura, Naomasa Makita, Taisuke Ishikawa, Yoshiyasu Aizawa, Hiroya Ushinohama, Yoshifusa Aizawa, Akinori Kimura

Journal, date & volume: J. Biol. Chem., 2009 Dec 11 , 284, 35122-33

PubMed link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19825999

Abstract
Long QT syndrome (LQTS) is a hereditary arrhythmia caused by mutations in genes for cardiac ion channels, including a potassium channel, KvLQT1. Inheritance of LQTS is usually autosomal-dominant, but autosomal-recessive inheritance can be observed in patients with LQTS accompanied by hearing loss. In this study, we investigated the functional alterations caused by KCNQ1 mutations, a deletion (delV595) and a frameshift (P631fs/19), which were identified in compound heterozygous state in two patients with autosomal-recessive LQTS not accompanied by hearing loss. Functional analyses showed that both mutations impaired cell surface expression due to trafficking defects. The mutations severely affected outward potassium currents without apparent dominant negative effects. It was found that delV595 impaired subunit binding, whereas P631fs/19 was retained in endoplasmic reticulum due to the newly added 19-amino acid sequence containing two retention motifs (R(633)GR and R(646)LR). This is the first report of novel mechanisms for trafficking abnormality of cardiac ion channels, providing us new insights into the molecular mechanisms of LQTS.