1.A.1.20.1
K⁺ voltage-gated ether-a-go-go-related channel, H-ERG (KCNH2; Erg; HErg; Erg1, Kv11.1) subunit K_v11.1 (long QT syndrome type 2) (Gong et al., 2006; Chartrand et al. 2010; McBride et al. 2013). Selective expression of HERG and Kv2 channels influences proliferation of uterine cancer cells (Suzuki and Takimoto 2004). H-ERG forms a heteromeric K⁺ channel regulating cardiac repolarization, neuronal firing frequency and neoplastic cell growth (Szabó et al., 2011). Oligomerization is due to N-terminal interactions between two splice variants, hERG1a and hERG1b (Phartiyal et al., 2007). Structure function relationships of ERG channel activation and inhibition have been reviewed (Durdagi et al., 2010). Interactions between the N-terminal domain and the transmembrane core modulate hERG K channel gating (Fernández-Trillo et al., 2011). The marine algal toxin azaspiracid is an open state blocker (Twiner et al., 2012). Verapamil blocks channel activity by binding to Y₆₅₂ and F₆₅₆ in TMS S₆ (Duan et al. 2007).  Hydrophobic interactions between the voltage sensor and the channel domain mediate inactivation (Perry et al. 2013), but voltage sensing by the S4 segment can be transduced to the channel gate in the absence of physical continuity between the two modules (Lörinczi et al. 2015).  Mutations give rise to long QT syndrome (Osterbur et al. 2015).  Polyphenols such as caffeic acid, phenylethyl ester (CAPE) and curcumin inhibit by modification of gating, not by blocking the pore (Choi et al. 2013). Potassium ions can inhibit tumorigenesis through inducing apoptosis of hepatoma cells by upregulating potassium ion transport channel proteins HERG and VDAC1 (Xia et al. 2016).  Incorrectly folded hERG can be degraded by Bag1-stimulated Trc-8-dependent proteolysis (Hantouche et al. 2016). The S1 helix regulates channel activity. Thus, S1 region mutations reduce both the action potential repolarizing current passed by Kv11.1 channels in cardiac myocytes, as well as the current passed in response to premature depolarizations that normally helps protect against the formation of ectopic beats (Phan et al. 2017). Interactions of beta1 integrins with hERG1 channels in cancer cells stimulate distinct signaling pathways that depended on the conformational state of hERG1 (Becchetti et al. 2017). ERG1 is sensitive to the alkaloid, ginsenoside 20(S) Rg3 which alters the gating of hERG1 channels by interacting with and stabilizing the voltage sensor domain in an activated state (Gardner et al. 2017). Channels split at the S4-S5 linker, at the intracellular S2-S3 loop, and at the extracellular S3-S4 loop are fully functional channel proteins (de la Peña et al. 2018). IKr is the rapidly activating component of the delayed rectifier potassium current, the ion current largely responsible for the repolarization of the cardiac action potential. Inherited forms of long QT syndrome (LQTS) in humans are linked to functional modifications in the Kv11.1 (hERG) ion channel and potentially life threatening arrhythmias. hERG1b affects the generation of the cardiac Ikr and plays an important role in cardiac electrophysiology (Perissinotti et al. 2018). X-ray crystallography and cryoEM have revealed features of the "nonswapped" transmembrane architecture, an "intrinsic ligand," and small hydrophobic pockets off a pore cavity. Drug block and inactivation mechanisms are discussed (Robertson and Morais-Cabral 2019). It forms a complex with β-integrin (TC#9.B.87.1.25) and NHE1 (TC# 2.A.36.1.13) (Iorio et al. 2020). Cardiotoxicity is caused mainly by the inhibition of human ether-a-go-go related gene (hERG) channel protein which leads to a life-threatening condition known as cardiac arrhythmia and is due to probable collapse of the pore. (Koulgi et al. 2021). Transmembrane hERG channel currents have been measured based on solvent-free lipid bilayer microarrays (Miyata et al. 2021).