Lorenzo Pouso, Alejandro IsmaelPérez-Sayáns García, MarioRodríguez Zorrilla, SamuelChamorro Petronacci, Cintia MicaelaGarcía García, Abel2020-04-082020-04-082019Lorenzo-Pouso, A.I.; Pérez-Sayáns, M.; Rodríguez-Zorrilla, S.; Chamorro-Petronacci, C.; García-García, A. Dissecting the Proton Transport Pathway in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma: State of the Art and Theranostics Implications. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2019, 20, 4222http://hdl.handle.net/10347/21253Cancer cells overexpress proton exchangers at the plasma membrane in order acidify the extracellular matrix and maintain the optimal pH for sustaining cancer growth. Among the families of proton exchangers implicated in carcinogenesis, carbonic anhydrases (CAs), monocarboxylate transporters (MCTs), Na+/H+ exchangers (NHEs), sodium bicarbonate cotransporters (NBCs), and vacuolar ATPases (V-ATPases) are highlighted. Considerable research has been carried out into the utility of the understanding of these machineries in the diagnosis and prognosis of several solid tumors. In addition, as therapeutic targets, the interference of their functions has contributed to the discovery or optimization of cancer therapies. According to recent reports, the study of these mechanisms seems promising in the particular case of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). In the present review, the latest advances in these fields are summarized, in particular, the usefulness of proton exchangers as potential prognostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets in OSCCeng© 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Mouth neoplasmCarbonic anhydrasesMonocarboxy late transportersNa+/H+ exchangerV-ATPasejournal article10.3390/ijms201742221422-0067open access