Alkaliptosis: A new strategy for cancer therapy

Abstract

Cancer incidence and mortality are expected to increase with an aging population, emphasizing the need for new prevention and treatment strategies. In addition, poor prognosis and chemotherapy resistance are prevalent issues among cancer patients. Therefore, understanding the major pathways and components involved in cell death, defects in cancer-related pathways, and cell death biology in cancer will help develop new effective therapies. An unbalanced pH level can lead to cell death, unlike common knowledge. The majority of knowledge on acid-base balance differences in normal and cancer cells and gene expression patterns in the alkaliptosis pathway has the potential to be of priority for interpretation of the phenotype, particularly when considered in individualized cancer treatments. Understanding the mechanism of alkaliptosis can be a target for the development of new pharmacological therapies. Additionally, it can shed light on more effective treatments by explaining their interactions with other cell death mechanisms. This review aimed to shed light on the fundamental process of pH homeostasis in regulated cell deaths.

The authors declared no conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article.

The authors received no financial support for the research and/or authorship of this article.