title: Ca2+ signalling checkpoints in cancer: remodelling Ca2+ for cancer cell proliferation and survival.
abstract: Increases in cytosolic free Ca2+ ([Ca2+]i) represent a ubiquitous signalling mechanism that controls a variety of cellular processes, including proliferation, metabolism and gene transcription, yet under certain conditions increases in intracellular Ca2+ are cytotoxic. Thus, in using Ca2+ as a messenger, cells walk a tightrope in which [Ca2+]i is strictly maintained within defined boundaries. To adhere to these boundaries and to sustain their modified phenotype, many cancer cells remodel the expression or activity of their Ca2+ signalling apparatus. Here, we review the role of Ca2+ in promoting cell proliferation and cell death, how these processes are remodelled in cancer and the opportunities this might provide for therapeutic intervention.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, University of Cambridge, Tennis Court Road, Cambridge CB2 1PD, UK. llewelyn.roderick@bbsrc.ac.uk
authors.forename: H Llewelyn
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Roderick
authors.forename: Simon J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Cook
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis; D020013:Calcium Signaling; D002453:Cell Cycle; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D002470:Cell Survival; D018385:Centrosome / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*; D051381:Rats