A-kinase anchoring proteins as potential drug targets

Abstract

A-kinase anchoring proteins (AKAPs) crucially contribute to the spatial and temporal control of cellular signalling. They directly interact with a variety of protein binding partners and cellular constituents, thereby directing pools of signalling components to defined locales. In particular, AKAPs mediate compartmentalization of cAMP signalling. Alterations in AKAP expression and their interactions are associated with or cause diseases including chronic heart failure, various cancers and disorders of the immune system such as HIV. A number of cellular dysfunctions result from mutations of specific AKAPs. The link between malfunctions of single AKAP complexes and a disease makes AKAPs and their interactions interesting targets for the development of novel drugs. © 2011 The British Pharmacological Society.