Intracellular potassium stabilizes human ether-à-go-go-related gene channels for export from endoplasmic reticulum.

Several therapeutic compounds have been identified that prolong the QT interval on the electrocardiogram and cause torsade de pointes arrhythmias not by direct block of the cardiac potassium channel human ether-à-go-go-related gene (hERG) but via disruption of hERG trafficking to the cell surface membrane. One example of a clinically important compound class that potently inhibits hERG trafficking are cardiac glycosides. We have shown previously that inhibition of hERG trafficking by cardiac glycosides is initiated via direct block of Na(+)/K(+) pumps and not via off-target interactions with hERG or any other protein. However, it was not known how pump inhibition at the cell surface is coupled to hERG processing in the endoplasmic reticulum. Here, we show that depletion of intracellular K(+)-either indirectly after long-term exposure to cardiac glycosides or directly after exposure to gramicidin in low sodium media-is sufficient to disrupt hERG trafficking. In K(+)-depleted cells, hERG trafficking can be restored by permeating K(+) or Rb(+) ions, incubation at low temperature, exposure to the pharmacological chaperone astemizole, or specific mutations in the selectivity filter of hERG. Our data suggest a novel mechanism for drug-induced trafficking inhibition in which cardiac glycosides produce a [K(+)](i)-mediated conformational defect directly in the hERG channel protein.