Cellular Calcium Signals in Cancer Chemoprevention and Chemotherapy by Phytochemicals

Abstract

Identifying novel agents for cancer treatment is critical because of obstacles with anticancer drug resistance and lack of drug effectiveness. Intracellular calcium ion (Ca²⁺), a common second messenger, regulates various cellular pathophysiological processes including cell proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis. Recent studies have shown that the remodeling of Ca²⁺ signals is associated with cancer occurrence, progression and metastasis. Ca²⁺ channels, transporter and pumps regulate calcium movement, and alteration of Ca²⁺ signal component expression/activity is associated with numerous cancer cell activities. Therefore, targeting Ca²⁺ signals is an attractive research focus in cancer treatment. Phytochemicals, secondary metabolites in plants, exhibit multifaceted effective anticancer activities in various cancers. Although the mechanisms of the anticancer effects of phytochemicals remain unclarified, studies have indicated that many phytochemicals inhibit cancer progression through modulating calcium signals. In this review, we summarize the phytochemicals with demonstrated anticancer effects through their influence on calcium signaling, which may provide new ideas and directions in cancer research.

Disclosure Statement

The authors report no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (82073543, 82072044), Jiangsu University Youth Talent Cultivation Program 2016, the Research Foundation for Advanced Talents of Jiangsu University (14JDG044) and the Clinical Medical Science and Technology Development Fund project of Jiangsu University (JLY2021017). We thank Gabrielle White Wolf, PhD, from Liwen Bianji (Edanz) (www.liwenbianji.cn/), for editing the English text of a draft of this manuscript.