RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Drug Transporters and Na+/H+ Exchange Regulatory Factor PSD-95/Drosophila Discs Large/ZO-1 Proteins JF Pharmacological Reviews JO Pharmacol Rev FD American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics SP 656 OP 680 DO 10.1124/pr.115.010728 VO 67 IS 3 A1 Dustin R. Walsh A1 Thomas D. Nolin A1 Peter A. Friedman A2 Paul A. Insel YR 2015 UL http://pharmrev.aspetjournals.org/content/67/3/656.abstract AB Drug transporters govern the absorption, distribution, and elimination of pharmacologically active compounds. Members of the solute carrier and ATP binding-cassette drug transporter family mediate cellular drug uptake and efflux processes, thereby coordinating the vectorial movement of drugs across epithelial barriers. To exert their physiologic and pharmacological function in polarized epithelia, drug transporters must be targeted and stabilized to appropriate regions of the cell membrane (i.e., apical versus basolateral). Despite the critical importance of drug transporter membrane targeting, the mechanisms that underlie these processes are largely unknown. Several clinically significant drug transporters possess a recognition sequence that binds to PSD-95/Drosophila discs large/ZO-1 (PDZ) proteins. PDZ proteins, such as the Na+/H+ exchanger regulatory factor (NHERF) family, act to stabilize and organize membrane targeting of multiple transmembrane proteins, including many clinically relevant drug transporters. These PDZ proteins are normally abundant at apical membranes, where they tether membrane-delimited transporters. NHERF expression is particularly high at the apical membrane in polarized tissue such as intestinal, hepatic, and renal epithelia, tissues important to drug disposition. Several recent studies have highlighted NHERF proteins as determinants of drug transporter function secondary to their role in controlling membrane abundance and localization. Mounting evidence strongly suggests that NHERF proteins may have clinically significant roles in pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of several pharmacologically active compounds and may affect drug action in cancer and chronic kidney disease. For these reasons, NHERF proteins represent a novel class of post-translational mediators of drug transport and novel targets for new drug development.