PANX1 explained

Pannexin 1 is a protein in humans that is encoded by the PANX1 gene.^[1]

The protein encoded by this gene belongs to the innexin family. Innexin family members are the structural components of gap junctions. This protein and pannexin 2 are abundantly expressed in central nerve system (CNS) and are coexpressed in various neuronal populations. Studies in Xenopus oocytes suggest that this protein alone and in combination with pannexin 2 may form cell type-specific gap junctions with distinct properties.^[1]

Clinical relevance

Truncating mutations in this gene have been shown to promote breast cancer metastasis to the lungs by allowing cancer cells to survive mechanical stretch in the microcirculation.^[2]

Disruptions of this gene have been associated to melanoma tumor progression.^[3]

Pannexin 1 is also an important component of membrane channels involved in the formation of thin plasma membrane extensions called apoptopodia and beaded apoptopodia during apoptosis.^{[4] [5]}

Further reading

• Pelegrin P, Surprenant A . Pannexin-1 mediates large pore formation and interleukin-1beta release by the ATP-gated P2X7 receptor . The EMBO Journal . 25 . 21 . 5071–82 . Nov 2006 . 17036048 . 1630421 . 10.1038/sj.emboj.7601378 .
• Bruzzone R, Hormuzdi SG, Barbe MT, Herb A, Monyer H . Pannexins, a family of gap junction proteins expressed in brain . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America . 100 . 23 . 13644–9 . Nov 2003 . 14597722 . 263867 . 10.1073/pnas.2233464100 . 2003PNAS..10013644B . free .
• Reyes JP, Hernández-Carballo CY, Pérez-Flores G, Pérez-Cornejo P, Arreola J . Lack of coupling between membrane stretching and pannexin-1 hemichannels . Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications . 380 . 1 . 50–3 . Feb 2009 . 19150332 . 2670310 . 10.1016/j.bbrc.2009.01.021 .
• Orloff M, Peterson C, He X, Ganapathi S, Heald B, Yang YR, Bebek G, Romigh T, Song JH, Wu W, David S, Cheng Y, Meltzer SJ, Eng C . Germline mutations in MSR1, ASCC1, and CTHRC1 in patients with Barrett esophagus and esophageal adenocarcinoma . JAMA . 306 . 4 . 410–9 . Jul 2011 . 21791690 . 3574553 . 10.1001/jama.2011.1029 .
• Ambrosi C, Gassmann O, Pranskevich JN, Boassa D, Smock A, Wang J, Dahl G, Steinem C, Sosinsky GE . Pannexin1 and Pannexin2 channels show quaternary similarities to connexons and different oligomerization numbers from each other . The Journal of Biological Chemistry . 285 . 32 . 24420–31 . Aug 2010 . 20516070 . 2915678 . 10.1074/jbc.M110.115444 . free .
• Woehrle T, Yip L, Elkhal A, Sumi Y, Chen Y, Yao Y, Insel PA, Junger WG . Pannexin-1 hemichannel-mediated ATP release together with P2X1 and P2X4 receptors regulate T-cell activation at the immune synapse . Blood . 116 . 18 . 3475–84 . Nov 2010 . 20660288 . 2981474 . 10.1182/blood-2010-04-277707 .
• Boassa D, Ambrosi C, Qiu F, Dahl G, Gaietta G, Sosinsky G . Pannexin1 channels contain a glycosylation site that targets the hexamer to the plasma membrane . The Journal of Biological Chemistry . 282 . 43 . 31733–43 . Oct 2007 . 17715132 . 10.1074/jbc.M702422200 . free .
• Baranova A, Ivanov D, Petrash N, Pestova A, Skoblov M, Kelmanson I, Shagin D, Nazarenko S, Geraymovych E, Litvin O, Tiunova A, Born TL, Usman N, Staroverov D, Lukyanov S, Panchin Y . The mammalian pannexin family is homologous to the invertebrate innexin gap junction proteins . Genomics . 83 . 4 . 706–16 . Apr 2004 . 15028292 . 10.1016/j.ygeno.2003.09.025 .
• Bhalla-Gehi R, Penuela S, Churko JM, Shao Q, Laird DW . Pannexin1 and pannexin3 delivery, cell surface dynamics, and cytoskeletal interactions . The Journal of Biological Chemistry . 285 . 12 . 9147–60 . Mar 2010 . 20086016 . 2838334 . 10.1074/jbc.M109.082008 . free .

Notes and References

1. Web site: Entrez Gene: Pannexin 1 . 2012-04-11 .
2. Furlow PW, Zhang S, Soong TD, Halberg N, Goodarzi H, Mangrum C, Wu YG, Elemento O, Tavazoie SF . Mechanosensitive pannexin-1 channels mediate microvascular metastatic cell survival. . Nature Cell Biology . 7 . 943–952 . July 2015 . 17 . 26098574 . 10.1038/ncb3194 . 5310712 .
3. Penuela S, Gyenis L, Ablack A, Churko JM, Berger AC, Litchfield DW, Lewis JD, Laird DW . Loss of pannexin 1 attenuates melanoma progression by reversion to a melanocytic phenotype . The Journal of Biological Chemistry . 287 . 34 . 29184–93 . Aug 2012 . 22753409 . 10.1074/jbc.M112.377176 . 3436541 . free .
4. Poon IK, Chiu YH, Armstrong AJ, Kinchen JM, Juncadella IJ, Bayliss DA, Ravichandran KS . Unexpected link between an antibiotic, pannexin channels and apoptosis . Nature . 507 . 7492 . 329–34 . 2014 . 24646995 . 4078991 . 10.1038/nature13147 . 2014Natur.507..329P .
5. Atkin-Smith GK, Tixeira R, Paone S, Mathivanan S, Collins C, Liem M, Goodall KJ, Ravichandran KS, Hulett MD, Poon IK . A novel mechanism of generating extracellular vesicles during apoptosis via a beads-on-a-string membrane structure . Nat Commun . 6 . 7439 . 2015 . 26074490 . 4490561 . 10.1038/ncomms8439 . 2015NatCo...6.7439A .