Fluxion Blog Models show a decrease in breast cancer metastasis when ion channels are modulated.

Existing pre-approved FDA drugs targeting potassium channels may help in Cancer treatment Electrical voltage patterns in healthy cells serve as a guide for a well-organized cell development process. The opposite occurs with cancer, though. Cells lose their specialized roles, start growing into tumors, and spread into other tissues-a process known as metastasis. This process also causes a breakdown in the cell's normal electrical patterns. Metastasis continues to be the biggest cause of death in cancer patients, and drugs that modulate the electrical patterns of tumor cells may hold promise as novel treatments. Researchers at Tufts University recently demonstrated that tumor cell invasion in vitro and metastasis in animal models of breast cancer can both be reduced considerably by altering the voltage patterns in tumor cells using ion channel blocking drugs that have already received FDA approval for the treatment of other illnesses.