Marcus Ruscetti Lab
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marcus-ruscetti.bsky.social
Marcus Ruscetti Lab
@marcus-ruscetti.bsky.social
Ruscetti lab at UMass Chan Medical School. Defining and targeting tumor intrinsic drivers of immune evasion for cancer immunotherapy. #prostatecancer #pancreaticcancer
Thanks again for the invite! Had a blast and learned a ton. The future of senescence research is bright.
We now have Marcus Ruscetti from @umasschan.bsky.social after the lunch break speaking at #SENESCEL25 in Barcelona
November 7, 2025 at 11:00 PM
What are the genetic determinants of immune suppression and immunotherapy resistance in cancer? In a recent study from our lab, Kat Murphy developed innovative genetically engineered mouse models of late-stage prostate cancer to address this question.
aacrjournals.org/cancerres/ar...
MYC and p53 Alterations Cooperate through VEGF Signaling to Repress Cytotoxic T-cell and Immunotherapy Responses in Prostate Cancer
AbstractPatients with castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) are generally unresponsive to tumor-targeted treatments and immunotherapies. Genetic alterations acquired during the evolution of CRPC...
aacrjournals.org
November 3, 2025 at 6:28 PM
Could not be more proud of Kat and all she has accomplished in graduate school and beyond!

Be sure to also check out her recent paper in Cancer Research elucidating genetic mechanisms of immune suppression and immunotherapy resistance in prostate cancer.

aacrjournals.org/cancerres/ar...
November 3, 2025 at 6:15 PM
How can senescent cells, which are damaged and growth arrested, both block tumor initiation as well as fuel its growth? A recent study published in Cancer Discovery @aacrjournals.bsky.social from Lin Zhou in the lab uncovered some new insights into this puzzle.
aacrjournals.org/cancerdiscov...
P21-positive senescent stromal cells promote prostate cancer immune suppression and progression that can be reversed by senolytic therapy
Abstract. Cellular senescence is a well-established tumor-suppressive cell cycle arrest program. However, chronic inflammation through the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP) can alternat...
aacrjournals.org
October 29, 2025 at 2:40 PM
Reposted by Marcus Ruscetti Lab
Now online in Cancer Discovery @aacrjournals.bsky.social: p21-Positive Senescent Stromal Cells Promote Prostate Cancer Immune Suppression & Progression that Can Be Reversed by Senolytic Therapy - by Lin Zhou, @marcus-ruscetti.bsky.social, and colleagues doi.org/10.1158/2159... @umasschan.bsky.social
October 28, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Reposted by Marcus Ruscetti Lab
Congrats to postdoc @nikitab.bsky.social for being awarded an AACR Scholar-in-Training award for this year's #AACRPan25 conference.

Be sure to check out her poster # B049 today from 6-9pm!
September 30, 2025 at 1:32 PM
*NEW paper alert* In a recent study from our former postdoc Shreya Chowdhury and in collaboration with Kate Fitzgerald, we identified PPT1 as a negative regulator of STING in tumor cells whose targeting could reactivate T cell immunity in ovarian and prostate cancers.

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
PNAS
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...
www.pnas.org
September 23, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Reposted by Marcus Ruscetti Lab
Super pleased to announce our latest suggesting the cell of origin for #SCLC is most likely the basal cell @nature.com, not the accepted neuroendocrine cell. Implications for the earliest events in cancer, & providing new models of tuft-like cancer.
rdcu.be/eGUtj
Basal cell of origin resolves neuroendocrine–tuft lineage plasticity in cancer
Nature - Basal cells, rather than neuroendocrine cells, have been identified as the probable origin of small cell lung cancer and other neuroendocrine–tuft cancers, explaining...
rdcu.be
September 17, 2025 at 3:21 PM
This month our lab is celebrating 5 years! Couldn't be more thrilled with and proud of the group we have. Great scientists and human beings all around. Also super excited about the science coming out of the lab. Stay tuned for a few new studies dropping in the upcoming weeks.
September 22, 2025 at 8:14 PM
Congrats to postdoc @nikitab.bsky.social for winning the Margaret Foti @theaacr.bsky.social Scholar-in-Training Award for next month's Pancreatic AACR conference!

If you see her at the conference, be sure to ask her about her work on PDAC cachexia, bioRxiv link below!

biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
August 15, 2025 at 5:43 PM
Reposted by Marcus Ruscetti Lab
Why do we even have to do this? I wondered the whole time at Stand for Science. 🧪 But it was inspiring to see so many people committed to fighting for truth, science, and justice!
March 7, 2025 at 10:11 PM
Reposted by Marcus Ruscetti Lab
March 7, 2025 at 9:55 PM
Congrats to Haruka from the Atukorale and Ruscetti labs for passing her qualifying exam to become a Ph.D. candidate yesterday! We are proud mentors and can't wait to see what you can accomplish through engineering LNPs for drug delivery in pancreatic cancer!
March 7, 2025 at 2:25 AM
Happy to highlight work from Zhao et al., who developed 4! new mouse models to trace and genetically manipulate different p16+ senescent cell types that will be invaluable to the field. Check out my spotlight @Dev_Cell and original article in @cellcellpress.bsky.social
www.cell.com/developmenta...
Lineage tracing senescence in vivo shows not all senescent cells are created equal
Understanding the impact of senescence on disease is limited by the lack of tools to lineage label senescent cells. In a recent Cell issue, Zhao et al. create mouse models to genetically manipulate and trace p16+ cells, identifying contrasting roles for senescent macrophages and endothelial cells (ECs) in liver fibrosis.
www.cell.com
January 7, 2025 at 4:53 PM
Happy to share our recent review on cellular senescence and its impact on tumor immune surveillance authored by Lin Zhou and Boyang Ma in the lab, out now online at Trends in Cancer. Lots of exciting developments in the field over the past few years worth checking out!
www.cell.com/trends/cance...
Cellular senescence offers distinct immunological vulnerabilities in cancer
Chronic damage following oncogene induction or cancer therapy can produce cellular senescence. Senescent cells not only exit the cell cycle but communicate damage signals to their environment that can trigger immune responses. Recent work has revealed that senescent tumor cells are highly immunogenic, leading to new ways to activate antitumor immunosurveillance and potentiate T cell-directed immunotherapies. However, other studies have determined that heterogeneous senescent stromal cell populations contribute to immunosuppression and tumor progression, sparking the development of senotherapeutics to target senescent cells that evade immune detection. We review current findings that provide deeper insights into the mechanisms contributing to the dichotomous role of senescence in immune modulation and how that can be leveraged for cancer immunotherapy.
www.cell.com
January 2, 2025 at 4:20 PM
Always wonderful to see how our lab family grows each year. Happy Holidays from the Ruscetti and @pitarresilab.bsky.social groups!
December 21, 2024 at 4:21 PM
Reposted by Marcus Ruscetti Lab
🧪1/ 🚨New paper on ecDNAs from our lab!
We reveal a strategy to engineer extrachromosomal DNA (ecDNA) amplifications in cells & mice. Let's dive in! Let’s dive in! 🧵👇
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Engineered extrachromosomal oncogene amplifications promote tumorigenesis - Nature
Large extrachromosomal DNAs are engineered using a CRISPR- and Cre–loxP-based approach and shown to drive cancer in mouse models, with potential applications in determining the role of oncogene a...
www.nature.com
December 18, 2024 at 4:54 PM
First post on @bsky.app! Excited to engage with the scientific community, share our lab's research on tumor immunology and cellular senescence, and highlight the work and accomplishments of our inspiring lab members on this platform.
December 5, 2024 at 2:52 AM
Reposted by Marcus Ruscetti Lab
I'm thrilled to share our latest research, published in Nature Communications. This work highlights how pancreatic cancer cells hijack cell polarity proteins to regulate macropinocytosis and tumor metabolism, shedding light on potential therapeutic vulnerabilities.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Cell polarity proteins promote macropinocytosis in response to metabolic stress - Nature Communications
Cancer cells rely on macropinocytosis to survive in a nutrient-deprived environment. Here, Lambies et al. identified various members of the cell polarity protein network as essential regulators of mac...
www.nature.com
December 4, 2024 at 12:52 AM
Reposted by Marcus Ruscetti Lab
No better 1st post on this platform than this - the Pitarresi and Ruscetti labs at UMass Chan raising awareness on World Pancreas Cancer Day. Surely a long way to go but fueled by a singular purpose of defeating this deadly malignancy!
November 21, 2024 at 7:29 PM