Guanylate cyclase 2C, also known as guanylyl cyclase C (GC-C), intestinal guanylate cyclase, guanylate cyclase-C receptor, or the heat-stable enterotoxin receptor (hSTAR) is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the GUCY2Cgene.[5][6]
Guanylyl cyclase is an enzyme found in the luminal aspect of intestinalepithelium and dopamine neurons in the brain.[7] The receptor has an extracellularligand-binding domain, a single transmembrane region, a region with sequence similar to that of protein kinases, and a C-terminalguanylate cyclase domain. Tyrosine kinase activity mediates the GC-C signaling pathway within the cell.
GC-C is a key receptor for heat-stable enterotoxins that are responsible for acute secretory diarrhea.[8] Heat-stable enterotoxins are produced by pathogens such as Escherichia coli. Knockout mice deficient in the GC-C gene do not show secretory diarrhea on infection with E. coli, though they do with cholera toxin. This demonstrates the specificity of the GC-C receptor.
In medicine[]
Guanylate cyclase 2C is the target of linaclotide, an oligopeptide agonist used for the treatment of chronic constipation.
Park J, Schulz S, Haaf J, et al. (2002). "Ectopic expression of guanylyl cyclase C in adenocarcinomas of the esophagus and stomach". Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers Prev. 11 (8): 739–44. PMID12163327.
Tien YW, Lee PH, Hu RH, et al. (2003). "The role of gelatinase in hepatic metastasis of colorectal cancer". Clin. Cancer Res. 9 (13): 4891–6. PMID14581363.
Bhandari R, Srinivasan N, Mahaboobi M, et al. (2001). "Functional inactivation of the human guanylyl cyclase C receptor: modeling and mutation of the protein kinase-like domain". Biochemistry. 40 (31): 9196–206. doi:10.1021/bi002595g. PMID11478887.
Debruyne PR, Witek M, Gong L, et al. (2006). "Bile acids induce ectopic expression of intestinal guanylyl cyclase C Through nuclear factor-kappaB and Cdx2 in human esophageal cells". Gastroenterology. 130 (4): 1191–206. doi:10.1053/j.gastro.2005.12.032. PMID16618413.