# How does malignancy subvert platelet and megakaryocytic biology?

> **NIH NIH R01** · BRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S HOSPITAL · 2020 · $550,945

## Abstract

Project Summary
Traditionally viewed as the bandaids of the blood, the contribution of platelets to the progression of malignancy
is emerging as a compelling focus for therapeutic intervention. Complex interactions between tumor cells, and
circulating platelets play an important role in tumor growth and dissemination, and a growing body of data
supports a role for platelet activation and release of chemokines in metastases and neovascularization.
Supporting this concept is the evidence that elevated platelet counts (thrombocytosis) at time of diagnosis with
malignancy is a harbinger of an aggressive cancer with a poor prognosis. One very interesting and provocative
connection between cancer and platelets is the increasing evidence that tumor cells hijack platelets to promote
a more pro-malignant phenotype to drive disease progression. Our laboratories have been instrumental in
establishing the pro-malignant role of platelets in metastasis and neovascularization. We have recently
discovered that tumor cells can instruct platelets to release CCL5, a known driver of tumor cell invasion and
metastasis, and have expanded the role of CCL5 not only as a regulator of metastasis but also as a central
controller of platelet production. Despite this progress, how tumor cells instruct megakaryocytes to increase
platelet production, and how malignancy reprograms megakaryocytes and manipulates platelet phenotype to
support tumor growth and metastasis remains an enigma. Since platelets play a central role in driving cancer,
this proposal will address three interrelated while independent Specific Aims focused on the cell biological and
molecular pathways by which tumor cells hijack megakaryocytes and platelets to promote cancer growth.
Specific Aim 1 will determine the role of the chemokine CCL5 as a major driver of thrombocytosis in
malignancy via upregulation of megakaryocyte maturation and proplatelet production. Specific Aim 2 will
determine how malignancy reprograms megakaryocytes to produce a more pro-malignant platelet phenotype,
with upregulation of factors essential to neovascularization and metastasis. Specific Aim 3 will determine the
clinical significance of CCL5 driven platelet production and megakaryocyte reprogramming by elucidating the
impact of each in breast cancer patients. This work is innovative because it enters unchartered territory and
takes a multifaceted experimental approach to understanding how tumor cells hijack platelets by uniting work
on platelet production with cancer biology. Taken together, we expect that this investigation will demonstrate
the molecular mechanisms by which malignancy can subvert normal platelet biology by manipulating the
megakaryocyte to promote cancer growth and metastasis, and lay the foundation for the development of novel
therapeutic modalities.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9831061
- **Project number:** 5R01CA200748-04
- **Recipient organization:** BRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S HOSPITAL
- **Principal Investigator:** Elisabeth M Battinelli
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $550,945
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2016-12-16 → 2021-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9831061

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9831061, How does malignancy subvert platelet and megakaryocytic biology? (5R01CA200748-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9831061. Licensed CC0.

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