Transient Receptor Potential Melastatin 2 (TRPM2) is a widely expressed, non-selective cationic channel with implicated roles in cell death, chemokine production and oxidative stress. This study characterizes a novel interactor of TRPM2. Using fusion proteins comprised of the TRPM2 C-terminus we established that tubulin interacted directly with the predicted C-terminal coiled-coil domain of the channel. In vitro studies revealed increased interaction between tubulin and TRPM2 during LPS-induced macrophage activation and taxol-induced microtubule stabilization. We propose that the stabilization of microtubules in activated macrophages enhances the interaction of tubulin with TRPM2 resulting in the gating and/or localization of the channel resulting in a contribution to increased intracellular calcium and downstream production of chemokines.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TORONTO/oai:tspace.library.utoronto.ca:1807/31435 |
| Date | 20 December 2011 |
| Creators | Seepersad, Colin Elliott |
| Contributors | Aarts, Michelle |
| Source Sets | University of Toronto |
| Language | en_ca |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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