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Updated: May 9, 2026

Monitoring ER/SR Calcium Release with the Targeted Ca2+ Sensor CatchER+
Published on: May 19, 2017
Role of calcium sensing receptor (CaSR) in tumorigenesis
Navneet Singh1, Moltira Promkan, Guangming Liu
1Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Department of Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Cell Biology and Simmons Cancer Institute, Springfield, IL, USA. nsingh2@siumed.edu
Abstract:
The extracellular Ca(2+)-sensing receptor (CaSR) is a robust promoter of differentiation in colonic epithelial cells and functions as a tumor suppressor in colon cancer. CaSR mediates its biologic effects through diverse mechanisms. Loss of CaSR expression activates a myriad of stem cell-like molecular features that drive and sustain the malignant and drug-resistant phenotypes of colon cancer. This CaSR-null phenotype, however, is not irreversible and induction of CaSR expression in CaSR-null cells promotes cell death mechanisms and restores drug sensitivity. The CaSR also functions as a tumor suppressor in breast cancer and promotes cellular sensitivity to cytotoxic drugs. BRCA1 and CaSR functions intersect in breast cancer cells, and CaSR activation can rescue breast cancer cells from the deleterious effect of BRCA1 mutations.
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