κ-casein is a glycosilated protein in mammalian milk that plays an essential role in the milk micelles. Control of κ-casein expression reflects this essential role, although an understanding of the mechanisms involved lags behind that of the other milk protein genes. Transcriptional regulation, a first mechanism for controlling the development of organisms, is carried out by transcription facto...

Positively charged endogenous and exogenous organic compounds of diverse chemical structures are transported by polyspecific organic cation transporters (OCT). In two contributions to the May 2005 issue of Molecular Pharmacology, amino acid residues within the fourth and tenth transmembrane helices of rat OCT1 are described that contribute to cation and corticosterone binding. In a three-dimens...

Burckhardt, Gerhard, and Natascha A. Wolff. Structure of renal organic anion and cation transporters. Am J Physiol Renal Physiol 278: F853–F866, 2000.—Here we review the structural and functional properties of organic anion transporters (OAT1, OAT2, OAT3) and organic cation transporters (OCTN1, OCTN2, OCT1, OCT2, OCT3), some of which are involved in renal proximal tubular organic anion and cati...

Human hepatoma cells may represent a valuable alternative to the use of human hepatocytes for studying hepatic drug transporters, which is now a regulatory issue during drug development. In the present work, we have characterized hepatic drug transporter expression, activity and regulation in human hepatoma HuH-7 cells, in order to determine the potential relevance of these cells for drug trans...