Monoamine transporters vulnerable and vital doorkeepers.
Prog Mol Biol Transl Sci. 2011;98:1-46
Authors: Lin Z, Canales JJ, Björgvinsson T, Thomsen M, Qu H, Liu QR, Torres GE, Caine SB
Transporters of dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine have been empirically used as medication targets for several mental illnesses in the last decades. These protein-targeted medications are effective only for subpopulations of patients with transporter-related brain disorders. Since the cDNA clonings in early 1990s, molecular studies of these transporters have revealed a wealth of information about the transporters' structure-activity relationship (SAR), neuropharmacology, cell biology, biochemistry, pharmacogenetics, and the diseases related to the human genes encoding these transporters among related regulators. Such new information creates a unique opportunity to develop transporter-specific medications based on SAR, mRNA, DNA, and perhaps transporter trafficking regulation for a number of highly relevant diseases including substance abuse, depression, schizophrenia, and Parkinson's disease.
PMID: 21199769 [PubMed - in process]