Ion channels in lung cancer: biological and clinical relevance

Abstract

Despite improvements in treatment, lung cancer is still a major health problem worldwide. Among lung cancer subtypes, the most frequent is represented by adenocarcinoma (belonging to the Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer class) although the most challenging and harder to treat is represented by Small Cell Lung Cancer, that occurs at lower frequency but has the worst prognosis. For these reasons, the standard of care for these patients is represented by a combination of surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy. In this view, searching for novel biomarkers that might help both in diagnosis and therapy is mandatory. In the last 30 years it was demonstrated that different families of ion channels are overexpressed in both lung cancer cell lines and primary tumours. The altered ion channel profile may be advantageous for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes since most of them are localised on the plasma membrane thus their detection is quite easy, as well as their block with specific drugs and antibodies. This review focuses on ion channels (Potassium, Sodium, Calcium, Chloride, Anion and Nicotinic Acetylcholine receptors) in lung cancer (both Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer and Small Cell Lung Cancer) and recapitulate the up-to-date knowledge about their role and clinical relevance for a potential use in the clinical setting, for lung cancer diagnosis and therapy.

Phytochemical Modulation of Ion Channels in Oncologic Symptomatology and Treatment

“…Jang et al xenografted A549 cells (a human lung adenocarcinoma cell line) onto nude mice. Subsequent Kv1.3 inhibition by MgTX led to a significant decrease in tumor volume by increasing p21 levels and decreasing Cdk4 and cyclin D3 [87,88]. This suggests the antitumorigenic mechanism of MgTX is through cell cycle inhibition.…”