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Pathophysiology Nodes

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5 shared nodes are defined in this module.
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Cell Types

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parathyroid chief cell CL:0000446 Cell Ontology (CL) Relation: this mechanism module involves this cell type This mechanism module involves parathyroid chief cell (CL:0000446). CL:0000446 is a cell type from the Cell Ontology.
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Biological Processes

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parathyroid hormone secretion GO:0035898 ↓ DECREASED Gene Ontology (GO) Relation: this mechanism module involves this biological process This mechanism module involves decreased parathyroid hormone secretion (GO:0035898). GO:0035898 is a biological process from the Gene Ontology.
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Notes

Two deliberate omissions, both about terms that do not exist rather than steps that are unclear. GO has no calcium-sensing receptor activity term: searching OLS go for 'calcium-sensing receptor activity' returns two calcium channel activities (GO:0005220 and GO:0005219) and nothing for the receptor, and 'extracellular calcium ion sensing' returns nothing at all, so the trigger sits on the generic GO:0004930 G protein-coupled receptor activity and the receptor identity is carried by the CASR gene binding (hgnc:1514) instead. And no transducer is bound. The calcium-sensing receptor does couple through Gq/11 and phospholipase C, but none of the abstracts cited here states that step, and binding GO terms for a chain no cited source names is the defect this module was written to avoid; the sensitisation node therefore carries no process term and says what the sources do say, which is that the drug raises the receptor's sensitivity to extracellular calcium. Whoever sources the coupling can add it. The module is grounded on two drugs, not one. Cinacalcet is the small molecule and etelcalcetide the intravenous peptide; PMID:29534286 is cited for the sensitisation step precisely because it states the mechanism for etelcalcetide and names the chief cell, so the module is not a cinacalcet module. Hypocalcaemia is modelled as a consequence arm rather than as an adverse-effect aside, because it is the same mechanism read at the organism scale: suppressing parathyroid hormone lowers serum calcium, and in the cited haemodialysis cohort two thirds of patients initiating cinacalcet became hypocalcaemic. That source also reports it was mostly asymptomatic and transient, which is quoted on the node so the arm is not read as a stronger safety claim than the source makes. The treatment block sets therapeutic_modality to SMALL_MOLECULE, which describes cinacalcet; the slot is single-valued and etelcalcetide is a peptide, so that value names the oral drug rather than the whole class. Parathyroid cell proliferation is not modelled. Calcimimetics are reported to affect parathyroid hyperplasia as well as secretion, but no abstract cited here establishes it, so there is no node for it. Five conformers are wired: CKD-Mineral_Bone_Disorder, Familial_Hypocalciuric_Hypercalcemia_1 and _2, Parathyroid_Gland_Carcinoma and Parathyroid_Hyperplasia. They span reduced renal handling, an inactivating receptor or G-protein variant, autonomous malignant tissue and autonomous hyperplastic tissue, which is what makes the module indication-independent. Two further entries name a calcimimetic and are deliberately not wired. Multiple_Endocrine_Neoplasia_Type_1 has no calcimimetic treatment to wire: the drug is named only inside a parathyroidectomy treatment, which binds no agent of its own. Autosomal_Recessive_Hypophosphatemic_Rickets_1 records a single adjunctive course in one adult that was stopped because higher doses were not tolerated, and the entry says explicitly that it does not establish routine efficacy; wiring it would present an abandoned single-patient trial as a therapeutic mechanism of that disease. The autosomal dominant hypocalcaemia entries are NOT conformers and must not be wired here: they are caused by activating receptor variants, so a calcimimetic is the wrong direction of action and those entries mention it as a thing to avoid. A calcilytic module, if one is ever written, is where they would belong.
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Used By Disorder Entries

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Pathograph

Use the checkboxes to hide or show graph categories. Hover nodes for evidence-backed metadata.
Pathograph: causal mechanism network for Calcium-Sensing Receptor Positive Allosteric Modulation Module Interactive directed graph showing how this shared module's pathophysiology nodes connect.
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Pathophysiology

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Calcimimetic Occupancy of the Parathyroid Calcium-Sensing Receptor
trigger
A calcimimetic occupies an allosteric site on the calcium-sensing receptor of the parathyroid chief cell. The receptor is a G protein-coupled receptor whose physiological ligand is an inorganic ion rather than a molecule, which is why the drugs act allosterically rather than at the orthosteric site.
parathyroid chief cell CL:0000446 Cell Ontology (CL) Relation: this pathophysiological event involves this cell type This pathophysiological event involves parathyroid chief cell, annotated with chief cell of parathyroid gland (CL:0000446). CL:0000446 is a cell type from the Cell Ontology.
Show evidence (2 references)
PMID:29680147 SUPPORT DIRECT REVIEW SYNTHESIS Other
"The extracellular calcium receptor (CaR) is a G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) and the pivotal molecule regulating systemic Ca2+ homeostasis"
Establishes that the receptor this node binds is a G protein-coupled receptor, which is what the generic GO:0004930 binding asserts.
PMID:29680147 SUPPORT DIRECT REVIEW SYNTHESIS Other
"Calcimimetics are agonists or positive allosteric modulators of the CaR"
Names the drug class and the direction of action this module is scoped to, and distinguishes it from the calcilytics the same review covers.
Increased Receptor Sensitivity to Extracellular Calcium
amplifier
The sensitised receptor responds to a lower extracellular calcium concentration than it otherwise would, which shifts the set-point of the gland's calcium-sensing step downward. No transducer is bound here: see the module notes on why the Gq/phospholipase C coupling is deliberately not asserted.
parathyroid chief cell CL:0000446 Cell Ontology (CL) Relation: this pathophysiological event involves this cell type This pathophysiological event involves parathyroid chief cell, annotated with chief cell of parathyroid gland (CL:0000446). CL:0000446 is a cell type from the Cell Ontology.
Show evidence (2 references)
PMID:29534286 SUPPORT DIRECT REVIEW SYNTHESIS Other
"Etelcalcetide binds the calcium-sensing receptor and increases its sensitivity to extracellular calcium, thereby decreasing secretion of parathyroid hormone (PTH) by chief cells"
States the sensitisation this node represents, names the chief cell, and carries the step to the next node in one sentence.
PMID:25498383 SUPPORT DIRECT REVIEW SYNTHESIS Other
"By enhancing CaSR sensitivity for plasma extracellular calcium (Ca(2+)0), cinacalcet reduces serum parathyroid hormone, Ca(2+)0, and serum inorganic phosphorous concentrations"
Independent statement of the same sensitisation step for the other drug in the class, carrying it through to the circulating consequences.
Suppression of Parathyroid Hormone Secretion
central effector
The chief cell releases less parathyroid hormone. This is the key conformance target: it is the rate-limiting step every conformer funnels through, whatever made the hormone excessive in the first place.
parathyroid chief cell CL:0000446 Cell Ontology (CL) Relation: this pathophysiological event involves this cell type This pathophysiological event involves parathyroid chief cell, annotated with chief cell of parathyroid gland (CL:0000446). CL:0000446 is a cell type from the Cell Ontology.
parathyroid hormone secretion GO:0035898 ↓ DECREASED Gene Ontology (GO) Relation: this pathophysiological event involves this biological process This pathophysiological event involves decreased parathyroid hormone secretion (GO:0035898). GO:0035898 is a biological process from the Gene Ontology.
Show evidence (2 references)
PMID:29534286 SUPPORT DIRECT REVIEW SYNTHESIS Other
"thereby decreasing secretion of parathyroid hormone (PTH) by chief cells"
Names the suppressed secretion and the cell that performs it, which is exactly this node.
PMID:29047366 SUPPORT INDIRECT BACKGROUND Human clinical
"Cinacalcet can also suppress PTH secretion due to parathyroid carcinoma in the same way as it does for parathyroid hyperplasia in the uremic condition"
Supports this node being the indication-independent step: the same suppression is reported for autonomous carcinoma and for uraemic hyperplasia, which is why conformers span both.
Lowered Circulating Parathyroid Hormone, Calcium and Phosphate
consequence
Serum parathyroid hormone, calcium and phosphate all fall, and the high-turnover bone disease that excess parathyroid hormone drives improves with them.
Show evidence (1 reference)
PMID:18397701 SUPPORT DIRECT PRIMARY RESULT Human clinical
"Treatment with cinacalcet lowered PTH and reduced bone turnover and tissue fibrosis among most dialysis patients with biochemical evidence of sHPT"
Randomised placebo-controlled trial measuring both the fall in hormone and the bone response this node describes.
Hypocalcaemia
consequence
Serum calcium falls below the normal range. In the cited European haemodialysis cohort two thirds of patients starting cinacalcet became hypocalcaemic within a year, and the same source reports it was mostly asymptomatic and transient, so this node is the dose-limiting edge of the mechanism rather than a claim about harm.
Show evidence (2 references)
PMID:31848883 SUPPORT DIRECT PRIMARY RESULT Human clinical
"Of 905 normocalcemic patients initiating cinacalcet, 67% developed hypocalcemia within 12 months: 68% mild, 23% moderate, 9% severe."
Quantifies how often the suppression overshoots into frank hypocalcaemia in a real treated cohort, and how it is distributed by severity.
PMID:31848883 SUPPORT DIRECT PRIMARY RESULT Human clinical
"Hypocalcemia was mostly asymptomatic, transient (with and without targeted intervention to correct it) and not associated with an increase in cardiovascular events or deaths"
The same cohort's finding on how the hypocalcaemia behaved, carried here so this node is read as the dose-limiting edge of the mechanism rather than as a claim about harm.
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Treatments

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Calcimimetic Therapy
Pharmacotherapy NCIT:C15986 NCI Thesaurus (NCIT) Relation: this treatment is this clinical intervention This treatment is Pharmacotherapy (NCIT:C15986). NCIT:C15986 is a clinical intervention from the NCI Thesaurus.
Agent: cinacalcet CHEBI:48390 Chemical Entities of Biological Interest (CHEBI) Relation: this treatment uses this therapeutic agent This treatment uses cinacalcet (CHEBI:48390). CHEBI:48390 is a therapeutic agent from Chemical Entities of Biological Interest. etelcalcetide CHEBI:134700 Chemical Entities of Biological Interest (CHEBI) Relation: this treatment uses this therapeutic agent This treatment uses etelcalcetide (CHEBI:134700). CHEBI:134700 is a therapeutic agent from Chemical Entities of Biological Interest.
Platform: Small molecule
A positive allosteric modulator of the calcium-sensing receptor, given to suppress parathyroid hormone secretion. Cinacalcet is the oral small molecule and etelcalcetide the intravenous peptide.
Mechanism target:
ACTIVATES Calcimimetic Occupancy of the Parathyroid Calcium-Sensing Receptor — The drug is what occupies the receptor, so it acts at the module's trigger. The relation to the nodes below is relief of hormone excess rather than causation, so no downstream edge is asserted from the treatment. Evidence: 1