The incidence of cancer increases with age but we do not know why. As a working hypothesis we propose here that cells somehow initiated in vivo in the course of life and finally engaged in the aging program, which involves a drop of connexins with loss of cell-to-cell communication (equivalent to the promotion phase in the multistep process of carcinogenesis), may recover their growth potential, thus allowing cancer to progress. This is supported by evidence that: (i) connexin 43 (Cx43) acts as a tumor suppressor; (ii) cx43 and gap junction intercellular communication drop in precancerous lesions and in tumors of various origins, as well as in aging cells; (iii) telomerase is activated in cancerous somatic cells.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.exger.2003.10.010 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Extracellular electrophysiology on clonal human β-cell spheroids.
Front Endocrinol (Lausanne)
June 2024
Univiversity of Bordeaux, CNRS, Bordeaux INP, Laboratoire de Chimie et Biologie des Membranes CBMN, UMR 5248, Pessac, Bordeaux, France.
Background: Pancreatic islets are important in nutrient homeostasis and improved cellular models of clonal origin may very useful especially in view of relatively scarce primary material. Close 3D contact and coupling between β-cells are a hallmark of physiological function improving signal/noise ratios. Extracellular electrophysiology using micro-electrode arrays (MEA) is technically far more accessible than single cell patch clamp, enables dynamic monitoring of electrical activity in 3D organoids and recorded multicellular slow potentials (SP) provide unbiased insight in cell-cell coupling.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCapillary oxygen regulates demand-supply coupling by triggering connexin40-mediated conduction: Rethinking the metabolic hypothesis.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
February 2024
Robarts Research Institute, University of Western Ontario, London, ON N6A 5B7, Canada.
Coupling red blood cell (RBC) supply to O demand is an intricate process requiring O sensing, generation of a stimulus, and signal transduction that alters upstream arteriolar tone. Although actively debated, this process has been theorized to be induced by hypoxia and to involve activation of endothelial inwardly rectifying K channels (K) 2.1 by elevated extracellular K to trigger conducted hyperpolarization via connexin40 (Cx40) gap junctions to upstream resistors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCell proliferation and glial cell marker expression in the wall of the third ventricle in the tuberal region of the male mouse hypothalamus during postnatal development.
J Neuroendocrinol
March 2023
CHU Lille, Laboratory of Development and Plasticity of the Neuroendocrine Brain, Lille Neuroscience & Cognition, University of Lille, Inserm, Lille, France.
The third ventricle (3 V) wall of the tuberal hypothalamus is composed of two types of cells; specialized ependymoglial cells called tanycytes located ventrally and ependymocytes dorsally, which control the exchanges between the cerebrospinal fluid and the hypothalamic parenchyma. By regulating the dialogue between the brain and the periphery, tanycytes are now recognized as central players in the control of major hypothalamic functions such as energy metabolism and reproduction. While our knowledge of the biology of adult tanycytes is progressing rapidly, our understanding of their development remains very incomplete.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDivergence between Hemichannel and Gap Junction Permeabilities of Connexin 30 and 26.
Life (Basel)
January 2023
Department of Biochemistry and Structural Biology, University of Texas Health at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX 78229, USA.
Cx30 has been proposed to play physiological functions in the kidney and cochlea, and this has often been associated with its hemichannel role (deafness mutants frequently affecting hemichannels more than gap junctions), implicated in ATP release. Here, we used heterologous expression systems ( and N2A cells) to describe the properties of Cx30 hemichannels, with the objective of better understanding their physiological functions. As previously observed, Cx30 hemichannels gated in response to transmembrane voltage (V) and extracellular [Ca] (pK[Ca] of 1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFConnexins and Pannexins-Similarities and Differences According to the FOD-M Model.
Biomedicines
June 2022
Chair of Medical Biochemistry-Jagiellonian University-Medical College, Kopernika 7, 31-034 Kraków, Poland.
Connexins and pannexins are the transmembrane proteins of highly distinguished biological activity in the form of transport of molecules and electrical signals. Their common role is to connect the external environment with the cytoplasm of the cell, while connexin is also able to link two cells together allowing the transport from one to another. The analysis presented here aims to identify the similarities and differences between connexin and pannexin.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWant AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!