On June 16th, 2010, a research article from the Laboratory of Neural Signal Transduction entitled "Essential role of TRPC6 channels in G2/M phase transition and development of human glioma" was published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. This work was carried out by graduate students, Xia Ding, Zhuohao He and Kechun Zhou under the supervision of Dr. Yizheng Wang.

Glioma is the most common type of brain tumor, and leads to high rate of cancer death. Patients with glioblastoma multiforme, the most malignant form of glioma, usually have a survival time of less than one year. The strongly proliferative and invasive nature of glioma cells renders this type of tumor highly recurrent and drug-resistant. Finding molecular targets against the proliferation of glioma cells becomes an urgent need for therapy.

Calcium (Ca2+) signaling pathways make key contributions to cell cycle progression and cell proliferation. Canonical transient receptor potential (TRPC) channels are a group of Ca2+-permeable cation channels. Xia Ding and colleagues found that the protein level of TRPC6, a type of TRPC channels, is highly expressed in human glioma tissues. Inhibition of TRPC6 channels down-regulates CDC25C phosphatase expression and leads to G2 phase arrest, concurrently, suppresses glioma cell proliferation both in culture and in animal models. Inhibition of TRPC6 channels also enhances radiosensitivity of glioma cells. The authors have identified TRPC6 channels as a potential therapeutic target against human glioma. This report represents a new finding in their work on TRPC channels and in tumor development.