Acetylcholine receptor pathway in lung cancer: New twists to an old story.

Genome-wide association studies revealed that allelic variation in the α5-α3-β4 nicotine acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) cluster on chromosome 15q24-15q25.1 was associated with lung cancer risk. nAChRs are membrane ligand-gated cation channels whose activation is triggered by the binding of the endogenous neurotransmitter acetylcholine (ACh) or other biologic compounds including nicotine. nAChRs have been found on lung cancer cells, underscoring the idea that the non-neuronal nAChR pathway has important implications for lung cancer. Several studies focusing on the treatment with nAChR antagonists with improved selectivity might trigger novel strategies for the intervention and prevention of lung cancer. Here we review the genetic risk factors for lung cancer in the nAChR gene cluster, the roles of nicotine receptors, and the molecular mechanisms of acetylcholine receptor pathways to lead to more opportunities for intervention and prevention of lung cancer.

• Publication year

  2014

• Venue

  World Journal of Clinical Oncology

• Publication date

  2014-10-10

• Fields of study

  Biology, Medicine

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.5306/wjco.v5.i4.667PMID 25302169PMCID PMC4129531
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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