Structural basis for antiarrhythmic drug interactions with the human cardiac sodium channel

The human voltage-gated sodium channel, hNa _V 1.5, is responsible for the rapid upstroke of the cardiac action potential and is target for antiarrhythmic therapy. Despite the clinical relevance of hNa _V 1.5-targeting drugs, structure-based molecular mechanisms of promising or problematic drugs have not been investigated at atomic scale to inform drug design. Here, we used Rosetta structural modeling and docking as well as molecular dynamics simulations to study the interactions of antiarrhythmic and local anesthetic drugs with hNa _V 1.5. These calculations revealed several key drug binding sites formed within the pore lumen that can simultaneously accommodate up to two drug molecules. Molecular dynamics simulations identified a hydrophilic access pathway through the intracellular gate and a hydrophobic access pathway through a fenestration between DIII and DIV. Our results advance the understanding of molecular mechanisms of antiarrhythmic and local anesthetic drug interactions with hNa _V 1.5 and will be useful for rational design of novel therapeutics.