High-Content Genome-Wide RNAi Screen Reveals CCR3 as a Key Mediator of Neuronal Cell Death

Neuronal loss caused by ischemic injury, trauma, or disease can lead to devastating consequences for the individual. With the goal of limiting neuronal loss, a number of cell death pathways have been studied, but there may be additional contributors to neuronal death that are yet unknown. To identify previously unknown cell death mediators, we performed a high-content genome-wide screening of short, interfering RNA (siRNA) with an siRNA library in murine neural stem cells after exposure to N-methyl-N-nitroso-N′-nitroguanidine (MNNG), which leads to DNA damage and cell death. Eighty genes were identified as key mediators for cell death. Among them, 14 are known cell death mediators and 66 have not previously been linked to cell death pathways. Using an integrated approach with functional and bioinformatics analysis, we provide possible molecular networks, interconnected pathways, and/or protein complexes that may participate in cell death. Of the 66 genes, we selected CCR3 for further evaluation and found that CCR3 is a mediator of neuronal injury. CCR3 inhibition or deletion protects murine cortical cultures from oxygen-glucose deprivation–induced cell death, and CCR3 deletion in mice provides protection from ischemia in vivo. Taken together, our findings suggest that CCR3 is a previously unknown mediator of cell death. Future identification of the neural cell death network in which CCR3 participates will enhance our understanding of the molecular mechanisms of neural cell death.