Grateful for generous support from
The Charles Hood Foundation
The Sontag Foundation
The ChadTough Foundation

Happy to share that fantastic, complementary studies done by Filippo Beleggia and Christian Reinhardt similarly found SCLC cells utilize glutamatergic signaling to promote tumor growth www.nature.com/articles/s41...

In an effort to drive our work towards clinical translation, we treated SCLC brain allografts with Levetiracetam, and observed a decrease in tumor proliferation and tumor volume, highlighting the potential of therapeutic targeting neuron-SCLC interactions.

SCLC cells exhibit a reciprocal effect on neurons and contribute to their hyperexcitability, further driving neuron-SCLC interactions.

Direct SCLC cell membrane depolarization is sufficient to promote the growth of SCLC tumors.

#SCLC cells in the brain co-opt neuronal activity-regulated mechanisms to promote growth and progression. Optogenetic stimulation of cortical neuronal activity via both glutamatergic and GABAergic circuits drives proliferation and invasion of SCLC.

In collaboration with the phenomenal electrophysiologist Wengang Wang and Bernardo Sabatini we demonstrate that SCLC cells exhibit electrical currents and consequent calcium transients in response to neuronal activity.

Using SCLC brain allograft model, we discover bona fide neuron-to-synapses SCLC, for the first time for tumors of non-CNS origin.

We demonstrate that a population of #SCLC cells upregulates synaptic genes when exposed to neurons in activity-dependent manner. With @BizarMd team we further show overexpression of synaptic signature in patients with SCLC #brain metastasis compared to #SCLC lesions outside the brain.

We found #vagus nerve transection starkly inhibits primary SCLC tumor formation in the lung, highlighting a critical role for innervation in SCLC initiation & progression. Shout out to pulmonary biologists Yin Liu & Mark Krasnow, and SCLC experts @juliensage.bsky.social and Fangfei Qu!

Neurons and nerves regulate progression of several tumor types both in and outside of the central nervous system, but the extent to which the nervous system regulates lung cancer progression, either in the lung or when metastatic to brain, had yet to be explored.

This 6-year effort was co-led by Sol Savchuck (@stanfordmedicine.bsky.social & @mgbneurosurgres.bsky.social) and Kaylee Gentry @itsybitsyfitc.bsky.social (@mgbresearch.bsky.social Neurology). Tweetorial written by Sol Savchuck!

Jacqueline is interested in applying these imaging and viral tools in the context of glioblastoma, with the goal of understanding how glial signaling impacts tumor progression and broader neural circuitry.