The Role of Calcium Signaling in Regulation of Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition.

Despite substantial advances in the field of cancer therapeutics, metastasis is a significant challenge for a favorable clinical outcome. Epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a process of acquiring increased motility, invasiveness, and therapeutic resistance by cancer cells for their sustained growth and survival. A plethora of intrinsic mechanisms and extrinsic microenvironmental factors drive the process of cancer metastasis. Calcium (Ca2+) signaling plays a critical role in dictating the adaptive metastatic cell behavior comprising of cell migration, invasion, angiogenesis, and intravasation. By modulating EMT, Ca2+ signaling can regulate the complexity and dynamics of events leading to metastasis. This review summarizes the role of Ca2+ signal remodeling in the regulation of EMT and metastasis in cancer.