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Updated: Dec 9, 2025

Author Spotlight: Exploring the Role of Ion Channels in Cancer: Characterization and Potential Treatment Approaches
06:19

Author Spotlight: Exploring the Role of Ion Channels in Cancer: Characterization and Potential Treatment Approaches

Published on: June 16, 2023

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Ion Channels in Cancer: Orchestrators of Electrical Signaling and Cellular Crosstalk

Jerry J Fan1,2,3, Xi Huang4,5,6

  • 1Program in Developmental and Stem Cell Biology, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada. jj.fan@mail.utoronto.ca.

Reviews of Physiology, Biochemistry and Pharmacology
|September 7, 2020
PubMed

Insights

Ion channels regulate biological processes and are often dysregulated in cancer. Targeting these ion channels in tumor cells and their microenvironment offers new therapeutic strategies for cancer treatment.

Area of Science:

  • Molecular Biology
  • Oncology
  • Biophysics

Background:

  • Ion channels are transmembrane proteins controlling ion transport, crucial for cellular functions.
  • Dysregulated ion channel activity is implicated in various diseases, including cancer.
  • Tumor and microenvironment heterogeneity poses challenges for cancer therapy.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review the role of ion channels in tumorigenesis using in vivo models.
  • To explore ion channels as therapeutic targets in cancer.
  • To discuss ion channel involvement in tumor-stromal interactions, cancer neuroscience, and mechanobiology.

Main Methods:

  • Review of existing literature and data from in vivo model systems.
  • Analysis of ion channel expression and activity in cancer.
  • Exploration of therapeutic vulnerabilities associated with ion channels.

Main Results:

  • Ion channels contribute to multiple stages of cancer development.
  • Dysregulation of ion channels is a common feature in various cancers.
  • Ion channels in tumor cells and the microenvironment present targetable vulnerabilities.

Conclusions:

  • Ion channels are critical players in cancer biology.
  • Targeting ion channels may overcome therapeutic resistance due to heterogeneity.
  • Ion channels represent promising targets for novel cancer therapies.
Keywords:
Bioelectrical signalingCancerIon channelsMechanobiologyMembrane potentialMetastasisTumor heterogeneityTumor initiationTumor microenvironmentTumor progression

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