TPCs: FROM PLANT TO HUMAN

In 2005, the Arabidopsis thaliana two-pore channel TPC1 channel was identified as a vacuolar Ca2+-release channel. In 2009, three independent groups published studies on mammalian TPCs as nicotinic acid adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NAADP)-activated endolysosomal Ca2+ release channels, results that were eventually challenged by two other groups, claiming mammalian TPCs to be phosphatidylinositol-3,5-bisphosphate [PI(3,5)P2]-activated Na+ channels. By now this dispute seems to have been largely reconciled. Lipophilic small molecule agonists of TPC2, mimicking either the NAADP or the PI(3,5)P2 mode of channel activation, revealed, together with structural evidence, that TPC2 can change its selectivity for Ca2+ versus Na+ in a ligand-dependent fashion (N- vs. P-type activation). Furthermore, the NAADP-binding proteins Jupiter microtubule-associated homolog 2 protein (JPT2) and Lsm12 were discovered, corroborating the hypothesis that NAADP activation of TPCs only works in the presence of these auxiliary NAADP-binding proteins. Pathophysiologically, loss or gain of function of TPCs has effects on autophagy, exocytosis, endocytosis, and intracellular trafficking, e.g., LDL cholesterol trafficking leading to fatty liver disease or viral and bacterial toxin trafficking, corroborating the roles of TPCs in infectious diseases such as Ebola or COVID-19. Defects in the trafficking of epidermal growth factor receptor and β1-integrin suggested roles in cancer. In neurodegenerative lysosomal storage disease models, P-type activation of TPC2 was found to have beneficial effects on both in vitro and in vivo hallmarks of Niemann-Pick disease type C1, Batten disease, and mucolipidosis type IV. Here, we cover the latest on the structure, function, physiology, and pathophysiology of these channels with a focus initially on plants followed by mammalian TPCs, and we discuss their potential as drug targets, including currently available pharmacology.