2/3 key Calcium channels discovered

Researchers at the University of Cambridge, UK, have taken a major step toward unravelling one of the key control mechanisms of the human body. A paper published in the July 14 issue of the journal Science shows how scientists, funded in part by the UK's Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, have made significant progress in understanding how cells are able to regulate calcium signals, which could help improve drug targeting.

Calcium signals control almost every activity in the human body, from fertilization to cell death, and the UK researchers found that just two or three calcium channels, from among the many thousand present on the surface of a cell, are responsible for much of the calcium signal that regulates the activity of immune cells. According to the Science article, these key channels are formed by inositol trisphosphate receptors.

Originally thought to be found only in membranes within the cell, such as the endoplasmic reticulum, these IP3 channels are also seen in the external membrane and the researchers believe that this new role for the IP3 receptors paves the way to addressing the mechanisms that allow calcium to regulate cellular activities. Such an understanding could give a better idea of processes governing cell growth and development and could eventually lead to more sophisticated drug targeting, the scientists noted.