P2Y12

Protein coding gene in the species Homo sapiens
DISPLAYTITLE:P2Y12
the receptor

P2Y12 is a chemoreceptor for adenosine diphosphate (ADP) that belongs to the Gi class of a group of G protein coupled (GPCR) purinergic receptors. This P2Y receptor family has several receptor subtypes with different pharmacological selectivity, which overlaps in some cases, for various adenosine and uridine nucleotides. The P2Y12 receptor is involved in platelet aggregation and is thus a biological target for the treatment of thromboembolisms and other clotting disorders. Two transcript variants encoding the same isoform have been identified for this gene. In the field of purinergic signaling, the P2Y12 protein on the periphery is found mainly but not exclusively on the surface of blood platelets, and is an important regulator in blood clotting. In the central nervous system, this receptor has been found expressed exclusively on microglia, where it is necessary for physiological and pathological microglial actions, such as monitoring neuronal functions and microglial neuroprotection.

The drugs clopidogrel (Plavix), prasugrel (Efient, Effient), ticagrelor (Brilinta), and cangrelor (Kengreal) bind to this receptor and are marketed as antiplatelet agents.

In patients undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for an ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), US, European, and Canadian guidelines recommend that a P2Y12 inhibitor should be administered as soon as possible, although it is unclear whether administration of these medications before the patient arrives at the hospital confers additional benefits compared with in hospital administration. A network meta analysis of 37 studies involving 88,402 STEMI patients and 5,077 major adverse cardiac events (MACE) patients found that use of prasugrel was associated with lower mortality and MACE than other drugs in this class (clopidogrel and ticagrelor).