What is the role of potassium channels in heart health and disease?

The role of the ATP-sensitive potassium channels in cardiovascular physiology and disease (renewal)

Professor Andrew Tinker and his team at Queen Mary University of London are investigating proteins on the cell surface called ATP-sensitive potassium channels to find out their role in heart and circulatory disease. As well as letting potassium into the cell when ATP ‘fuel’ is running low, Professor Tinker believes these potassium channels are important to dilate blood vessels, lowering blood pressure, and protecting the heart. He has found the ATP-sensitive potassium channels in the lining of blood vessels, in heart muscle cells, in specialised heart cells that make our heart beat regularly and in nerve cells. But we don’t yet understand how these channels work or their role in heart and circulatory disease. In this research programme, the team will work out how the ATP-sensitive potassium channel works. Professor Tinker will study mice lacking different components of the channel to work out which parts influence heart muscle cell electrical activity and blood vessel function. He will find out which components are involved in blood pressure, including in maintaining blood pressure in severe infections. Understanding more about this potassium channel could reveal them as new targets to prevent or treat heart and circulatory disease.