Regulation of renal organic anion transporters

Organic anion transporters (OATs) are a group of membrane proteins that are mainly involved in the body disposition of organic anionic molecules or zwitterions, including a diverse array of clinical therapeutics, environmental toxins, and endogenous molecules. OATs are present in multiple tissues. OATs in the kidney is responsible for removing various organic anion molecules from blood to proximal tubule lumen for subsequent elimination through urine. The regulation of OATs can be classified into multiple levels such as transcriptional regulation, translational regulation, and post-translational regulation. My thesis work focuses on the investigation of post-translational modification/regulation of OATs by ubiquitination and SUMOylation as well as their upstream signaling pathways. This thesis consists of 8 chapters. Chapter 1 gives an overview on the general properties of OATs. Chapters 2-6 describe our investigation on the molecular mechanisms underlying the regulation of OATs by post-translational modification ubiquitination and SUMOylation as well as their upstream signaling pathways including proteins kinases (sgks and PKA) and hormones (dexamethasone and insulin).Ph.D.Includes bibliographical reference