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BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article

Front. Mol. Biosci.
Sec. Cellular Biochemistry
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fmolb.2024.1512530

OCTN1 mediates acetylcholine transport in the A549 lung cancer cells: possible pathophysiological implications

Provisionally accepted
Lorena Pochini Lorena Pochini 1,2Giusi Elisabetta Tedesco Giusi Elisabetta Tedesco 1Tiziano Mazza Tiziano Mazza 1Mariafrancesca Scalise Mariafrancesca Scalise 1*Cesare Indiveri Cesare Indiveri 1,2*
  • 1 University of Calabria, Cosenza, Italy
  • 2 Institute of Biomembranes, Bioenergetics and Molecular Biotechnologies, Department of Biomedical Sciences, National Research Council (CNR), Bari, Apulia, Italy

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    A role for acetylcholine in cell proliferation, epithelial mesenchymal transition and invasion has been well assessed and related to the presence of the non-neuronal cholinergic system in lung cancer. For the operation of this non-neuronal system, acetylcholine should be released by a transporter mediated non-quantal process. OCTN1 is one of the transporters able to catalyse acetylcholine efflux in vitro and ex vivo. Using the A549 cell line as a lung cancer model, it has been found that these cells express OCTN1 at a higher level with respect to other cancer cells. The transport capacity of OCTN1 extracted from A549 and reconstituted into proteoliposomes reflects the protein expression profile. The properties of the acetylcholine transport mediated by OCTN1 of A549 in terms of specificity to ligands and ability to catalyse efflux of acetylcholine corresponds to those previously described for the same transporter in other cells or to those of the human recombinant protein. OCTN1 is the major player in acetylcholine release in A549 and, therefore, may represent a target for inhibitors able to block the acetylcholine action in this type of aggressive tumors.

    Keywords: SLC, lung cancer, Non-neuronal cholinergic system, Octn1, Drug Discovery

    Received: 16 Oct 2024; Accepted: 25 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Pochini, Tedesco, Mazza, Scalise and Indiveri. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Mariafrancesca Scalise, University of Calabria, Cosenza, Italy
    Cesare Indiveri, University of Calabria, Cosenza, Italy

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