De Felice Dario, Alaimo Alessandro
Department of Cellular, Computational and Integrative Biology (CIBIO), University of Trento, 38123 Povo (Tn), Italy.
Cancers (Basel). 2020 Jul 3;12(7):1780. doi: 10.3390/cancers12071780.
Mechanotransduction, the translation of mechanical stimuli into biological signals, is a crucial mechanism involved in the function of fundamentally all cell types. In many solid tumors, the malignant transformation is often associated with drastic changes in cell mechanical features. Extracellular matrix stiffness, invasive growth, and cell mobility are just a few hallmarks present in cancer cells that, by inducing mechanical stimuli, create positive feedbacks promoting cancer development. Among the molecular players involved in these pathophysiological processes, the mechanosensitive Ca-permeable Piezo channels have emerged as major transducers of mechanical stress into Ca dependent signals. Piezo channels are overexpressed in several cancers, such as in breast, gastric, and bladder, whereas their downregulation has been described in other cancers. Still, the roles of mechanosensitive Piezos in cancer are somewhat puzzling. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge on the pathophysiological roles of these Ca-permeable channels, with special emphasis on their functional involvement in different cancer types progression.
机械转导，即将机械刺激转化为生物信号，是几乎所有细胞类型功能所涉及的关键机制。在许多实体瘤中，恶性转化通常与细胞力学特征的剧烈变化有关。细胞外基质硬度、侵袭性生长和细胞迁移只是癌细胞中存在的一些特征，这些特征通过诱导机械刺激，产生促进癌症发展的正反馈。在参与这些病理生理过程的分子中，机械敏感的钙离子通透型Piezo通道已成为将机械应力转化为钙依赖性信号的主要转导器。Piezo通道在几种癌症中过度表达，如乳腺癌、胃癌和膀胱癌，而在其他癌症中则有下调的描述。尽管如此，机械敏感的Piezo通道在癌症中的作用仍有些令人困惑。在本综述中，我们总结了目前关于这些钙离子通透通道病理生理作用的知识，特别强调它们在不同癌症类型进展中的功能参与。
