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Calcium signalling in cardiac myocytes

Reference	BBS/E/B/0000H110
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Dr Martin Bootman
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors
Institution	Babraham Institute
Department	Babraham Institute Department
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	70,408
Status	Completed
Type	Institute Project
Start date	01/10/2007
End date	31/03/2012
Duration	54 months

Abstract

Calcium regulates a wide and diverse range of physiological and pathological processes, from muscle contraction to hormone secretion. Calcium concentration in cells is tightly kept at very low levels with respect to the environment outside of the cell and the internal calcium stores. Calcium signals are switched on when a Calcium channel (located on the cell membrane or on the membrane of a calcium store) opens, allowing flux of Calcium into the cytoplasm. They are subsequently switched off after the channel is inactivated, and the concerted action of pumps and exchangers return Calcium inside the cell to the baseline levels. Calcium binding proteins regulate the density of Calcium pools and interact with numerous effectors. Calcium regulates tumour-related functions such as cell proliferation, differentiation (specialisation) and death. There is evidence that several Calcium channels, pumps and binding proteins are mutated, or aberrantly expressed, in some tumours. Moreover, an increasing a number of studies have shown cross-talks at multiple levels between calcium and signalling pathways involved in cancer transformation. However, despite these pieces of evidence the role of Calcium in cancer transformation is yet incompletely understood.The Ras GTPase protein regulates cell proliferation and differentiation though multiple signalling pathways, the most known of which is the Raf/ERK/MAPK pathway. Not surprisingly, mutations in Ras are common in cancer (about 30 percent) and are sufficient to cause tumorigenicity in absence of other oncogenic mutations.

Summary

unavailable

Committee	Closed Committee - Biochemistry & Cell Biology (BCB)
Research Topics	X – not assigned to a current Research Topic
Research Priority	X – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative	X - not in an Initiative
Funding Scheme	X – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme

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