Figure 6.

Channel capacity drops in cancer cells, specifically those with irregular response linked to alterations in the expression of Ca²⁺ homeostasis genes

(A) Violin plots of channel capacity distributions for “irregular responder” lines and HeLa cells obtained using the integral value of the Ca²⁺ response for each stimulation as a measure of the response. The values were estimated using a peak height-based approach with 1 interpolated concentration and 10 quantiles.

(B) Expression levels of the genes involved in Ca²⁺ homeostasis that are statistically up- or down-regulated in cluster 1 of “regular” responders as compared to others. All the genes but one (CACNA2D3) are upregulated in the cell lines, responding in a “regular” manner.

(C and D) Systematic comparison of channel capacity in the non-malignant breast epithelium-derived MCF10A cells and breast cancer cells with (D) either regular or irregular response patterns reveals that signaling information transduction in the cancer cells is significantly compromised as compared to their healthy ancestors.