GSBS Program
Neuroscience
UMMS Affiliation
Department of Psychiatry
Date
9-8-2011
Document Type
Article
Medical Subject Headings
Small Cell Lung Carcinoma; Luminescent Measurements; High-Throughput Screening Assays; Synaptic Transmission
Disciplines
Life Sciences | Medicine and Health Sciences | Neoplasms | Neuroscience and Neurobiology | Psychiatry
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Frontline treatment of small cell lung carcinoma (SCLC) relies heavily on chemotherapeutic agents and radiation therapy. Though SCLC patients respond well to initial cycles of chemotherapy, they eventually develop resistance. Identification of novel therapies against SCLC is therefore imperative.
METHODS AND FINDINGS: We have designed a bioluminescence-based cell viability assay for high-throughput screening of anti-SCLC agents. The assay was first validated via standard pharmacological agents and RNA interference using two human SCLC cell lines. We then utilized the assay in a high-throughput screen using the LOPAC(1280) compound library. The screening identified several drugs that target classic cancer signaling pathways as well as neuroendocrine markers in SCLC. In particular, perturbation of dopaminergic and serotonergic signaling inhibits SCLC cell viability.
CONCLUSIONS: The convergence of our pharmacological data with key SCLC pathway components reiterates the importance of neurotransmitter signaling in SCLC etiology and points to possible leads for drug development.
Rights and Permissions
Citation: PLoS One. 2011;6(9):e24132. Epub 2011 Sep 8. Link to article on publisher's site
Comments
Copyright: © 2011 Improgo et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.