Solute Carrier Transporters as Potential Targets for the Treatment of Metabolic Disease.

Solute Carrier Transporters as Potential Targets for the Treatment of Metabolic Disease. Pharmacol Rev. 2020 Jan;72(1):343-379 Authors: Schumann T, König J, Henke C, Willmes DM, Bornstein SR, Jordan J, Fromm MF, Birkenfeld AL Abstract The solute carrier (SLC) superfamily comprises more than 400 transport proteins mediating the influx and efflux of substances such as ions, nucleotides, and sugars across biological membranes. Over 80 SLC transporters have been linked to human diseases, including obesity and type 2 diabetes (T2D). This observation highlights the importance of SLCs for human (patho)physiology. Yet, only a small number of SLC proteins are validated drug targets. The most recent drug class approved for the treatment of T2D targets sodium-glucose cotransporter 2, product of the SLC5A2 gene. There is great interest in identifying other SLC transporters as potential targets for the treatment of metabolic diseases. Finding better treatments will prove essential in future years, given the enormous personal and socioeconomic burden posed by more than 500 million patients with T2D by 2040 worldwide. In this review, we summarize the evidence for SLC transporters as target structures in metabolic disease. To this end, we identified SLC13A5/sodium-coupled citrate transporter, and recent proof-of-concept studies confirm its therapeutic potential in T2D and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Further SLC transporters were linked in mul...
Source: Pharmacological Reviews - Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Tags: Pharmacol Rev Source Type: research