Calcium homeostasis in cancer: A focus on senescence.

Senescence is one of the primary responses to the activation of oncoproteins or down-regulation of tumor suppressors in normal cells and is therefore considered as being anti-tumorigenic but the mechanisms controlling this process are still much unknown. Calcium (Ca2+) plays a major role in many cellular processes and calcium channels control many of the “hallmarks of cancer” but their involvement in tumor initiation is poorly understood and remains unclear.