In C08 Johannes Brägelmann investigates the effects of innate immune pathway activation in human and murine SCLC. Innate immune pathways and nucleic acid receptors can greatly influence immune recognition and response to immune-checkpoint blockade in other tumor entities. Their role in SCLC will be studied systematically in C08 using nucleic acid receptor agonist stimulation and investigation of downstream effects in relevant preclinical models. This will be coupled with CRISPR/Cas9 based knock-out of key players like MAVS and STING in vitro and in vivo to assess the mechanistic basis and their potential as therapeutic targets in SCLC.