Why is this so exciting?

With the knowledge that gas transport is mediated also comes the opportunity for scientists to manipulate this aspect of cellular metabolism. The power to control the flow of gasses into and out of cells is the power to control that cell's life span.

An especially exciting opportunity to manipulate gas transport rates lies in cancer research, where inhibiting the transcription of AQP-1 could be the key to killing cancer cells . Cancer cells release more CO₂ than most other cells, so stopping these cell's abilty to extrude the gas to their environment would result in cell death. This example is one of many uses for the manipulation of gas transport, however, and the opportunities are endless.

The idea that gas transport is actively mediated by the cell is a huge paradigm shift from the traditional belief that transportation is uncontrolled. Further studies (Cooper and Boron, Am. J. Physiol. In press) have proven the conclusion drawn from this experiment, and the search for pores that mediate transport of specific gasses has already begun. The diffusion dogma has been destroyed, and the textbooks will be re-written.