Calcium is a key regulator of many physiological processes that are perturbed in cancer, such as migration, proliferation and apoptosis. The proteins STIM and Orai mediate store-operated calcium entry (SOCE), the main pathway for calcium entry in non-excitable cells. Changes in the expression and function of STIM and Orai have been found in a range of cancer types and thus implicated in disease progression. Here we discuss the role of STIM, Orai and the SOCE pathway in the progression of melanoma and explore how the heterogeneous nature of melanoma may explain the lack of consensus in the field regarding the role of SOCE in the progression of this disease.
Keywords: Orai1; STIM1; melanoma; metastasis.