Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2014, 15, 13344-13371; doi:10.3390/ijms150813344 OPEN ACCESS International Journal of Molecular Sciences ISSN 1422-0067 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijms Review Non-Synonymous Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms in the P2X Receptor Genes: Association with Diseases, Impact on Receptor Functions and Potential Use as Diagnosis Biomarkers Emily A. Caseley 1,†, Stephen P. Muench 1, Sebastien Roger 2, Hong-Ju Mao 3, Stephen A. Baldwin 1 and Lin-Hua Jiang 1,4,†,* 1 School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK; E-Mails:
[email protected] (E.A.C.);
[email protected] (S.P.M.);
[email protected] (S.A.B.) 2 Inserm U1069, University of Tours, Tours 37032, France; E-Mail:
[email protected] 3 State Key Laboratory of Transducer Technology, Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Science, Shanghai 200050, China; E-Mail:
[email protected] 4 Department of Physiology and Neurobiology, Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang 453003, China † These authors contributed equally to this work. * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail:
[email protected]; Tel.: +44-0-113-343-4231. Received: 6 June 2014; in revised form: 10 July 2014 / Accepted: 14 July 2014 / Published: 30 July 2014 Abstract: P2X receptors are Ca2+-permeable cationic channels in the cell membranes, where they play an important role in mediating a diversity of physiological and pathophysiological functions of extracellular ATP. Mammalian cells express seven P2X receptor genes. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are widespread in the P2RX genes encoding the human P2X receptors, particularly the human P2X7 receptor.