Ion channel and transporters as cancer biomarkers

Cancer is a highly heterogeneous disease in terms of both response to therapy and prognosis. The introduction of molecular tools and antibodies had a great impact on cancer management in recent years for both cancer diagnosis and therapy. Ion channels and transporters (ICT) are membrane proteins aberrantly expressed in several human cancers. ICT can now represent potential cancer biomarkers as well as targets for therapeutic and diagnostic purposes. In particular, we will discuss about the potential role of ICTs as biomarkers for solid cancers (evaluated either by immunohistochemistry or molecular biology techniques) and the potential use of antibodies for diagnosis.