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Ion transport

Tipping a cell's ionic balance

Nature Chemistry volume 6, pages 852–853 (2014)Cite this article

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A synthetic compound that transports chloride across membranes can kill both normal cells and cancer cells in vitro. The transporter works together with sodium channels to move NaCl into the cells, which triggers cell death.

To survive, cells need to maintain the right balance of nutrients, metabolites and ions with their environment. Cell membranes, and a battery of ion channels, ensure that crucial ion gradients are not compromised. But when ionic balance goes awry it can be disastrous. Cystic fibrosis, for instance, is caused by defects in an ion channel that transports chloride across the cell membrane. The surge in research on compounds that catalyse membrane transport of anions has been largely driven by the goal of finding treatments for such diseases1,2. Now, writing in this issue of Nature Chemistry, Philip A. Gale, Jonathan L. Sessler and Injae Shin show3 that synthetic anion transporters can induce cell death in cultured cells, including cancer cell lines.

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Figure 1: Strapped calixpyrroles can bind Cl− and transport it across the nonpolar cell membrane.

References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Jeffery T. Davis is in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, 20740, USA,

    Jeffery T. Davis

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  1. Jeffery T. Davis
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Correspondence to Jeffery T. Davis.

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Davis, J. Tipping a cell's ionic balance. Nature Chem 6, 852–853 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.2072

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.2072

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