Abstract

THE PORTRAYAL OF DRUG TRANSPORTERS IN DRUG ACTION

Anusha Shaji, Anu Sebastian* and Akshay Murali

ABSTRACT

Most drugs elicit their effects by acting on 3 kinds of protein molecules known as receptors, enzymes or transporters. Membrane transporters can be major determinants of the pharmacokinetic, safety and efficacy profiles of drugs. In particular, more than 400 membrane transporters in two major superfamilies- ATP-binding cassette (ABC) and solute carrier (SLC) have been annotated in the human genome. Many of these transporters have been cloned, characterized and localized to tissues and cellular membrane domains in the human body.

Keywords: Solute Carriers (SLC) Tansporters, ATP-binding cassette (ABC) Transporters, Xenobiotics.