Thyroid dysfunction is a global health concern, causing defects including neurodevelopmental disorders, dwarfism and cardiac arrhythmia. Here, we show that the potassium channel subunits KCNQ1 and KCNE2 form a thyroid-stimulating hormone–stimulated, constitutively active, thyrocyte K + channel required for normal thyroid hormone biosynthesis. Targeted disruption of Kcne2 in mice impaired thyroid iodide accumulation up to eightfold, impaired maternal milk ejection, halved milk tetraiodothyronine (T 4 ) content and halved litter size. Kcne2-deficient mice had hypothyroidism, dwarfism, alopecia, goiter and cardiac abnormalities including hypertrophy, fibrosis, and reduced fractional shortening. The alopecia, dwarfism and cardiac abnormalities were alleviated by triiodothyronine (T 3 ) and T 4 administration to pups, by supplementing dams with T 4 before and after they gave birth or by feeding the pups exclusively from Kcne2 +/+ dams; conversely, these symptoms were elicited in Kcne2 +/+ pups by feeding exclusively from Kcne2 −/− dams. These data provide a new potential therapeutic target for thyroid disorders and raise the possibility of an endocrine component to previously identified KCNE2 - and KCNQ1 -linked human cardiac arrhythmias.
/lp/nature-publishing-group-npg/kcne2-deletion-uncovers-its-crucial-role-in-thyroid-hormone-7ofhU0RDaK