This Research Topic is part of a series:
The Roles of Ion-Induced Cell Death in Cancer TreatmentIon homeostasis is a crucial cofactor for cellular biological function by maintaining stable ion concentrations. Studies have pointed out that imbalance of ions results in irreversible cell damage and cell death through regulating different intracellular signaling cascades, affecting tumor pathogenesis and therapeutic response.
Several forms of cell death induced by unbalanced ion homeostasis have been discovered, including apoptosis, autophagy, ferroptosis, cuproptosis, etc. Exploring further the possibilities of using ion signaling-based approaches will be helpful to improve the clinical efficacy of patients with cancers. For example, ferroptosis, a type of programmed cell death, intensively depends on cellular iron concentration. Ferroptosis has recently gained remarkable attention as the emerging cancer research and treatment bio-targets. Many scientific groups have confirmed the importance of ferroptosis inducers in killing cancer cells in vitro and in vivo.
Another example is cuproptosis, recently demonstrated as a copper-dependent form of cell death. Many reports have revealed that elesclomol and disulfiram, two common copper ionophores, are proposed as promising cancer therapeutics to facilitate cuproptosis. Moreover, ion signaling-based combination treatment has also been demonstrated as a potential therapeutic approach.
Nowadays, the efficacy of existing therapeutic strategies is still far from satisfactory in clinical practice. Therefore, there is an urgent need to clarify the underlying molecular mechanisms and biological functions of ion-induced cell death in cancer therapy. Furthermore, ion-driven therapeutics might provide a novel direction for improving the therapeutic efficacy against cancers.
Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:
• Ion signaling-based strategies for cancer research and therapeutic responses
• Different types of cell death that can be targeted for cancer therapy
• Discovering novel ion-dependent form of cell death
• New findings of the unbalanced ion homeostasis relating to predictive biomarkers or targets for cancer treatment
• Clinical or bioinformatics analyses that focus on novel therapeutic targets for ion signaling regulation