Potassium Channel Expression In Cervical Cancer Models

Introduction. Cervical cancer is a public health problem in developing countries, and the fourth leading cause of cancer death in women worldwide. Most human cervical cancer cases are associated with high-risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV) infection, but different cofactors including long-term use of oral contraceptives and multiple pregnancies increase the risk for cervical cancer in HPV-positive women. Ion channel expression and/or function differ between healthy and tumor cells. This alteration confers proliferation, progression, and survival advantages to tumor cells, making ion channels promising targets for cancer therapy and diagnosis. Here, we studied the mRNA expression of two potassium channels in human keratinocytes stably transfected with either E6 or both E6/E7 oncogenes of HPV16, and in a K14E7 transgenic mouse model of cervical cancer. These mice express the HPV16-E7 oncogene and …