Autocrine regulation of glioma cell proliferation via pHe-sensitive K+ channels

Since the seminal studies of Otto Warburg in the 1920s, it has been widely recognized that cancers grow glycolytically, even in the presence of oxygen. This generates an abundance of protons in a gradient across most solid tumors with an acidic core and an alkaline rim. Whether and how this proton gradient may also serve in an autocrine fashion in these tumors is unclear. We demonstrate that human glioma cells form spheroids that act as a viable three-dimensional tumor model, forming physiologically relevant extracellular pH (pHe) and cell proliferation gradients. Using fluorescent cell cycle trackers, we determined that the rate of cell proliferation is directly dependent on pHe and that cells adjust their growth rate according to their position within the pH gradient. We further show that glioma cells sense pH via H(+)-sensitive K(+) channels, which translate changes in pH into changes in membrane voltage. These channels are tonically active and blocked by acidic pHe, quinine, and ruthenium red. Blockade of this K(+) conductance by acidic pHe or drug inhibition depolarized glioma cells and tumor spheroids and prevented their passage through the hyperpolarization-dependent G1-to-S phase cell cycle checkpoint, thereby inhibiting cell division. In this way, pHe directly determines the proliferative state of glioma cells.