Bioelectric depolarization induces melanoma transformation

Experimentally validated prediction: depolarizing specific cell populations in normal tadpoles induces metastatic melanoma transformation, demonstrating causal role of bioelectric communication.

Source paper

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The computational boundary of a 'self': developmental bioelectricity drives multicellularity and scale-free cognition

(2019) · Levin M

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Claims (1)

claim

Cancer as loss of organizational self-boundary
supports
Levin proposes cancer cells become isolated from physiological signals that bind them into organ-level collectives, reverting to unicellular-scale goals, shrinking their computational self.

Communities (3)

community

Bioelectric morphogenesis & anatomical intelligence
members_of
Levin-led research showing bioelectric signals encode and control anatomical goal states in living systems.
Bioelectric morphogenesis & memory
members_of
Michael Levin's research on bioelectric signaling controlling anatomical goals, regeneration, and cancer.
Bioelectric control of cancer and morphogenesis
members_of
Using ion channel manipulation and bioelectric state to suppress tumorigenesis and override oncogenic pathways, pioneered by Michael Levin's group.

Related by similarity (8)

cosine ≥ 0.65 · no typed edge

Entities in the same semantic neighborhood but without a typed relation to this one — candidates for new edges or unrecognized duplicates.

Bioelectric state manipulation induces metastatic melanoma or suppresses tumorigenesis in wild-type genetic backgroundfinding0.834
Depolarization of melanocytes converts them to a metastatic state; conversely, hyperpolarization prevents tumor formation even with oncogene expression.
Bioelectric Control of Melanocyte Behaviorfinding0.778
Serotonergic signaling from instructor cells controls melanocyte proliferation and invasiveness in frog embryos; bioelectric perturbations produce stochastic organism-level outcomes (70% conversion) while maintaining cell-level concordance.
Bioelectric signals can induce ectopic organogenesis independent of tissue typefinding0.752
Brief chloride ion channel activator drug exposure converts normal melanocytes to melanoma-like phenotype in an all-or-none population-level fashion (Blackiston et al. 2011, Lobikin et al. 2015)finding0.747
Reveals that melanocytes across the whole animal make a coordinated, stochastic decision to convert or remain normal.
Ionophore-Induced Bioelectric Pattern Alterationmethod0.741
Technique of exposing planarian fragments to ionophores to rewrite bioelectric pattern memory and induce two-headed morphology without genomic change.
Ectopic Eye Formation via Bioelectric Signalingfinding0.727
Misexpression of potassium channels in frog tadpole gut or tail induces formation of complete, functional eyes in ectopic locations; demonstrates that morphogenetic modules can be triggered by high-level bioelectric signals without specifying molecular details.
Manipulating bioelectric states can reprogram target morphology without changing genetics.hypothesis0.721
Demonstrated by inducing two-headed planaria via ion channel drugs; predicts cancer normalization.
Optogenetic hyperpolarization suppresses human oncogenesfinding0.718
Finding that constitutive or optogenetic hyperpolarization can prevent human oncogenes from inducing tumors, supporting bioelectric control of cancer fate.