Ion Channels Association with Diseases and their Role as Therapeutic Targets in Drug Discovery

Abstract

Ion channels as potential drug targets has been widely designated in pharmaceutical industries for treatment of life threatening diseases .This targeting is a challenging area in drug development and discovery because of availability of extensive knowledge of structures and functions about ion channels such as sodium and calcium voltage-gated ion channels found in mammals. This knowledge mostly obtained on the basis of 3-D crystallographic studies along with their computational analysis. Analysis and modulation of Ion channels provide us with understanding of various properties, such as channel opening, pore function, voltage sensing and ion selectivity. Any disruption and deregulation in the mentioned functions leads to pathological states thus supporting the idea of their choice as valid targets in drug discovery projetcs. In this paper we focused on importance of ion channels in drug discovery and reviewed their structures and functions and their role in disease and drug discovery and their modulation