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Cancer as a Channelopathy—Appreciation of Complimentary Pathways Provides a Different Perspective for Developing Treatments

SIMPLE SUMMARY: While improvements in technology have improved our ability to treat many forms of cancer when diagnosed at an early stage of the disease, the ability to improve survival and quality of life for patients with late stage disease has been limited, largely due to the ability of cancer ce...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Gould, Harry J., Paul, Dennis
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9562872/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36230549
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/cancers14194627
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author Gould, Harry J.
Paul, Dennis
author_facet Gould, Harry J.
Paul, Dennis
author_sort Gould, Harry J.
collection PubMed
description SIMPLE SUMMARY: While improvements in technology have improved our ability to treat many forms of cancer when diagnosed at an early stage of the disease, the ability to improve survival and quality of life for patients with late stage disease has been limited, largely due to the ability of cancer cells to evade destruction when treatments block preferred paths for survival. Here, we review the role that ions and ion channels play in normal cell function, the development of disease and their role in the life and death of a cell. It is hoped that viewing cancer from the perspective of altered ion channel expression and ion balance may provide a novel approach for developing more effective treatments for this devastating disease. ABSTRACT: Life depends upon the ability of cells to evaluate and adapt to a constantly changing environment and to maintain internal stability to allow essential biochemical reactions to occur. Ions and ion channels play a crucial role in this process and are essential for survival. Alterations in the expression of the transmembrane proteins responsible for maintaining ion balance that occur as a result of mutations in the genetic code or in response to iatrogenically induced changes in the extracellular environment is a characteristic feature of oncogenesis and identifies cancer as one of a constellation of diseases known as channelopathies. The classification of cancer as a channelopathy provides a different perspective for viewing the disease. Potentially, it may expand opportunities for developing novel ways to affect or reverse the deleterious changes that underlie establishing and sustaining disease and developing tolerance to therapeutic attempts at treatment. The role of ions and ion channels and their interactions in the cell’s ability to maintain ionic balance, homeostasis, and survival are reviewed and possible approaches that mitigate gain or loss of ion channel function to contribute to new or enhance existing cancer therapies are discussed.
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spelling pubmed-95628722022-10-15 Cancer as a Channelopathy—Appreciation of Complimentary Pathways Provides a Different Perspective for Developing Treatments Gould, Harry J. Paul, Dennis Cancers (Basel) Review SIMPLE SUMMARY: While improvements in technology have improved our ability to treat many forms of cancer when diagnosed at an early stage of the disease, the ability to improve survival and quality of life for patients with late stage disease has been limited, largely due to the ability of cancer cells to evade destruction when treatments block preferred paths for survival. Here, we review the role that ions and ion channels play in normal cell function, the development of disease and their role in the life and death of a cell. It is hoped that viewing cancer from the perspective of altered ion channel expression and ion balance may provide a novel approach for developing more effective treatments for this devastating disease. ABSTRACT: Life depends upon the ability of cells to evaluate and adapt to a constantly changing environment and to maintain internal stability to allow essential biochemical reactions to occur. Ions and ion channels play a crucial role in this process and are essential for survival. Alterations in the expression of the transmembrane proteins responsible for maintaining ion balance that occur as a result of mutations in the genetic code or in response to iatrogenically induced changes in the extracellular environment is a characteristic feature of oncogenesis and identifies cancer as one of a constellation of diseases known as channelopathies. The classification of cancer as a channelopathy provides a different perspective for viewing the disease. Potentially, it may expand opportunities for developing novel ways to affect or reverse the deleterious changes that underlie establishing and sustaining disease and developing tolerance to therapeutic attempts at treatment. The role of ions and ion channels and their interactions in the cell’s ability to maintain ionic balance, homeostasis, and survival are reviewed and possible approaches that mitigate gain or loss of ion channel function to contribute to new or enhance existing cancer therapies are discussed. MDPI 2022-09-23 /pmc/articles/PMC9562872/ /pubmed/36230549 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/cancers14194627 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Gould, Harry J.
Paul, Dennis
Cancer as a Channelopathy—Appreciation of Complimentary Pathways Provides a Different Perspective for Developing Treatments
title Cancer as a Channelopathy—Appreciation of Complimentary Pathways Provides a Different Perspective for Developing Treatments
title_full Cancer as a Channelopathy—Appreciation of Complimentary Pathways Provides a Different Perspective for Developing Treatments
title_fullStr Cancer as a Channelopathy—Appreciation of Complimentary Pathways Provides a Different Perspective for Developing Treatments
title_full_unstemmed Cancer as a Channelopathy—Appreciation of Complimentary Pathways Provides a Different Perspective for Developing Treatments
title_short Cancer as a Channelopathy—Appreciation of Complimentary Pathways Provides a Different Perspective for Developing Treatments
title_sort cancer as a channelopathy—appreciation of complimentary pathways provides a different perspective for developing treatments
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9562872/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36230549
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/cancers14194627
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