Publication highlights

Researchers at the Crick have found that some particularly aggressive lung cancer cells can develop their own electric network, like that seen in the body’s nervous system. They found that small cell lung cancer cells (which mainly arise from neuroendocrine cells in the lungs) had gone 'off grid' - they were able to generate their own electrical activity, becoming independent of the body's main electrical supply. They also saw important changes in gene expression as the cancer progressed, resulting in some neuroendocrine cells becoming non-neuroendocrine cancer cells. Genes enabling electrical communication were switched on in the NE cells, and genes relating to producing a supportive environment were switched on in the non-NE cells, which were shuttling lactate as an energy source for NE cells. Markers of increased electrical activity were also seen in cancer cells in people with SCLC. As their cancer progressed, non-NE cells showed markers suggesting they were increasingly pumping out lactate. These changes drive the tumour's ability to grow and spread.