Keywords: r. tumor suppressors and oncogenes; j. ion channels
Ion channel function is critical for normal development and prevention of disease. These functions include maintaining membrane potential, controlling the flow of ions across the membrane, and regulating cell volume. Ion channels have well described roles in excitable cells where they are essential for establishing membrane potentials, the firing of action potentials and contraction of muscles among other functions, but their role in non-excitable cells is less defined. While ion channels are found in neural progenitors and upregulated in cancer, their roles, in these tissues, are not well understood. Previous work has found that reduction of voltage-gated sodium channel Para reduces brain tumor size. To further define the bioelectric landscape of proliferation, we sought to identify ion channels that influence tumor size and potentially proliferation. Using a Deadpan overexpression (DpnOE) brain tumor model which displays hyper-proliferation, we conducted a RNAi candidate ion channel screen to identify modifiers of brain volume. This screen has revealed a number of ion channels whose knockdown, significantly alters brain volume. This suggests that these ion channels may regulate important aspects of tumorigenesis. As ion channels are druggable targets, identifying modifiers of tumor size may represent new therapeutic sites of intervention.