Pathology
When the PMCA fails to function properly, disease can result. Improperly functioning PMCA proteins have been found associated with conditions such as sensorineural deafness, diabetes, and hypertension.
In excitotoxicity, a process in which excessive amounts of the neurotransmitter glutamate overactivate neurons, resulting in excessive influx of Ca2+ into cells, the activity of the PMCA may be insufficient to remove the excess Ca2+.
A May 2010 online press release from the Yale University School of Medicine noted that persistent PMCA2 expression in breast cancers lowers calcium levels inside malignant cells, allowing them to avoid controlled cell death (apoptosis), which would be the norm otherwise. According to Dr. John Wysolmerski, M.D., professor of endocrinology and lead author of the study (which will appear in the online early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences), such tumors are also usually positive for the HER2 protein and have a tendency to involve the lymph nodes, making the prognosis markedly worse. These breast cancers are more common among young women, which could explain why they often have worse prognoses than other postmenopausal women.
Read more about this topic: Plasma Membrane Ca2+ ATPase
Famous quotes containing the word pathology:
“It is often said that Poland is a country where there is anti-semitism and no Jews, which is pathology in its purest state.”
—Bronislaw Geremek (b. 1932)