Erica Sloan

Erica Sloan has demonstrated that sympathetic nerve signaling through beta-adrenergic receptors promotes cancer metastasis by remodeling the tumor microenvironment, suppressing anti-tumor immunity, and directly stimulating cancer cell invasion, providing the mechanistic basis for epidemiological observations linking beta-blocker use with improved cancer outcomes. Her laboratory showed that propranolol inhibits stress-induced metastasis by blocking beta-adrenergic signaling in tumor and stromal cells. She has advanced clinical trials of propranolol as an adjunctive cancer therapy. Her work establishes the biological basis for targeting stress neurobiology in cancer.