ECTO-NOX proteins appear to be more than important. They may be essential. If a cell with functional mitochondria were created without ECTO-NOX proteins, that cell could probably live but would never grow or divide and would die without leaving progeny. That experiment has actually been done. Hybridoma cells (antigen-producing cells formed by fusing myeloma cells with spleen cells during monoclonal antibody production) that produce antibodies to CNOX cannot expand. They live for months if fed daily with nutrients in the culture medium but never divide. This is because they cannot enlarge since their CNOX protein is blocked by the antibodies they produce.
ECTO-NOX proteins
With organisms, ECTO-NOX proteins provide additional functions. They keep the entire body synchronized as they move from cell to cell in the circulation. This may be why it is important to have ECTO-NOX proteins in the blood. ECTO-NOX proteins from one cell come off and move to combine with ECTO-NOX proteins or receptors on another cell and thus move from cell to cell to keep everyone synchronized. They also respond to melatonin in response to daily light signals coming from the pituitary - also important to keep the entire body synchronized.
With organisms, ECTO-NOX proteins are the major players in cellular response to the environment (light, gravity, touch in plants = pressure). They are responsible in large measure for the ability of organisms to adapt their metabolic cycles to a 24 h day. It is possible, although not yet proven, that individuals with various forms of sleep disorders have aberrant ECTO-NOX proteins responsible for their lack of synchrony with the environment. We have data from a cooperative study with a light clinic in Berlin that skin disorders associated with specific ECTO-NOX forms may respond to light therapy.
Finally ECTO-NOX proteins are important because they may be in part causal to human disease. At the top of the list is tNOX and cancer. However, the age-related NOX (ar-NOX) is not far behind as a potential contributor and indicator of antherogenesis and cardiovascular risk. Prions have ECTO-NOX characteristics and tNOX has properties of a prion. The amyloid-forming neurodegenerative diseases (Alzheimer’s/Parkinson’s) also have proteins with ECTO-NOX characteristics in their origins.
The area of cancer resistance to anticancer drugs and chemosensitization or radiation sensitization (action-at-a-distance) is very likely an ECTO-NOX-related phenomenon as is the mechanism of action of many cancer chemotherapeutic drugs and a few herbicides including the auxin herbicide 2,4-D and the sulfonylurea herbicides.