Research in our laboratory is concerned with understanding the cellular bases of metastasis in cancer, in particular prostate and breast cancer. Basically, metastasis is the process of secondary tumour formation which is the main cause of death in most cancer patients. During metastasis, cancer cells escape from the primary tumour, enter the circulation (blood or lymph), migrate around the body and get lodged in distant sites which may be specific tissues/organs for given cancers (e.g. breast cancer tends to spread to lymph nodes and bones). Although metastasis is an extremely complex process, it can be broken down to a concerted series of basic cellular behaviours, including proliferation, secretion, motility etc.

Our research is new and has adopted a unique 'neuroscience' approach, beginning with electrophysiology, to understanding the signalling process controlling the metastatic cascade. At the heart of the strategy is the well known fact that membrane potentials (which typically are some 107 V/m), and associated ion channel proteins and ionic fluxes, can exert a profound influence on cellular homeostasis. It is not surprising, therefore, that ion channel activity is involved in a variety of cellular activities, including proliferation/apoptosis, cell adhesion, cell movement, secretion and even gene expression - many of these are of direct relevance to the neoplastic process. Abnormal ion channel expression ('channelopathy') has been demonstrated in numerous diseases including epilepsy, periodic paralyses and migraine. Surprisingly, however, the role of ion channels in metastasis has not previously been formally questioned. We have initiated a new integrated approach to understanding the pathophysiology of prostate and breast cancer, focusing upon the role of ion channels in metastatic progression. Cancers of the prostate and breast (CaP and CaB, respectively), which are both secretory glands, share a number of common features, including hormone sensitivity and similarity in secondary tumour sites, and may even tend to co-occur in families.