2014). Histological analysis of breast cancer tissue from patients before and after chemotherapy provided support for the idea that a similar phenomenon occurs in tumours of patients. The investigators suggested that identification of tumour-specific TRPC5 in circulating extracellular vesicles might provide a window on the clinical outcome of chemotherapy. In a related study, ATP-binding cassette subfamily B member 1, a member of the MDR family of proteins, was found to be up-regulated because of TRPC5 channel activity in colorectal carcinoma cells (Wang et al. 2015). Here, TRPC5 is linked to colorectal carcinoma.