Magnesium and neoplasia: from carcinogenesis to tumor growth and progression or treatment.
Magnesium is involved in a wide range of biochemical reactions that are crucial to cell proliferation, differentiation, angiogenesis, and apoptosis. Changes in magnesium availability have been shown to influence biological responses of immuno-inflammatory cells. Equally plausible seems to be an involvement of magnesium in the multistep and interconnected processes that lead to tumor formation and development; however, the "how" and "when" of such an involvement remain to be defined. Here, we reviewed in vitro and in vivo data that indicated a role for magnesium in many biological and clinical aspects of cancer (from neoplastic transformation to tumor growth and progression or pharmacologic treatment). In adopting this approach we went through a full circle from molecular aspects to observational or epidemiological studies that could reconcile in a unifying picture the otherwise fragmentary or puzzling data currently available on the role of magnesium in cancer.
Istituto di Patologia generale, e Centro di Ricerche Oncologiche Giovanni XXIII, Facoltà di Medicina, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Largo F. Vito, 100168 Rome, Italy. fwolf@rm.unicatt.it
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Wolf
J A M
JA
Maier
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A
Nasulewicz
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C
Feillet-Coudray
M
M
Simonacci
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Mazur
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Cittadini
D000818:Animals; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic; D018450:Disease Progression; D006801:Humans; D008274:Magnesium / Q000378:metabolism*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D009389:Neovascularization, Pathologic
D008274:Magnesium