Voltage-Gated T-Type Calcium Channel Modulation by Kinases and Phosphatases: The Old Ones, the New Ones, and the Missing Ones

Calcium (Ca(2+)) can regulate a wide variety of cellular fates, such as proliferation, apoptosis, and autophagy. More importantly, changes in the intracellular Ca(2+) level can modulate signaling pathways that control a broad range of physiological as well as pathological cellular events, including those important to cellular excitability, cell cycle, gene-transcription, contraction, cancer progression, etc. Not only intracellular Ca(2+) level but the distribution of Ca(2+) in the intracellular compartments is also a highly regulated process. For this Ca(2+) homeostasis, numerous Ca(2+) chelating, storage, and transport mechanisms are required. There are also specialized proteins that are responsible for buffering and transport of Ca(2+). T-type Ca(2+) channels (TTCCs) are one of those specialized proteins which play a key role in the signal transduction of many excitable and non-excitable cell types. TTCCs are low-voltage activated channels that belong to the family of voltage-gated Ca(2+) channels. Over decades, multiple kinases and phosphatases have been shown to modulate the activity of TTCCs, thus playing an indirect role in maintaining cellular physiology. In this review, we provide information on the kinase and phosphatase modulation of TTCC isoforms Cav3.1, Cav3.2, and Cav3.3, which are mostly described for roles unrelated to cellular excitability. We also describe possible potential modulations that are yet to be explored. For example, both mitogen-activated protein kinase and citron kinase show affinity for different TTCC isoforms; however, the effect of such interaction on TTCC current/kinetics has not been studied yet.