Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 19, 2026
Author Spotlight: Innovative Cancer Therapies with Iron Oxide Nanoparticles for Glioblastoma Treatment
Published on: September 27, 2024
Monoamines in glioblastoma: complex biology with therapeutic potential
Seamus Patrick Caragher1, Robert Raymond Hall2, Riasat Ahsan1
1Department of Neurological Surgery, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois.
Abstract:
Glioblastoma (GBM) is characterized by extremely poor prognoses, despite the use of gross surgical resection, alkylating chemotherapeutic agents, and radiotherapy. Evidence increasingly highlights the role of the tumor microenvironment in enabling this aggressive phenotype. Despite this interest, the role of neurotransmitters, brain-specific messengers underlying synaptic transmission, remains murky. These signaling molecules influence a complex network of molecular pathways and cellular behaviors in many CNS-resident cells, including neural stem cells and progenitor cells, neurons, and glia cells. Critically, available data convincingly demonstrate that neurotransmitters can influence proliferation, quiescence, and differentiation status of these cells. This ability to affect progenitors and glia-GBM-initiating cells-and their availability in the CNS strongly support the notion that neurotransmitters participate in the onset and progression of GBM. This review will focus on dopamine and serotonin, as studies indicate they contribute to gliomagenesis. Particular attention will be paid to how these neurotransmitters and their receptors can be utilized as novel therapeutic targets. Overall, this review will analyze the complex biology governing the interaction of GBM with neurotransmitter signaling and highlight how this interplay shapes the aggressive nature of GBM.
Insights
Neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin may drive glioblastoma (GBM) growth by influencing brain cells. Targeting these signaling molecules offers potential new glioblastoma treatment strategies.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Oncology
- Molecular Biology
Background:
- Glioblastoma (GBM) has a poor prognosis despite standard treatments.
- The tumor microenvironment significantly impacts GBM aggressiveness.
- The role of neurotransmitters in GBM pathogenesis is not fully understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review the role of neurotransmitters, specifically dopamine and serotonin, in glioblastoma.
- To explore neurotransmitter signaling pathways in the central nervous system (CNS) and their impact on GBM.
- To identify potential therapeutic targets based on neurotransmitter interactions in GBM.
Main Methods:
- Literature review focusing on dopamine, serotonin, and their receptors in GBM.
- Analysis of studies investigating neurotransmitter influence on neural stem cells, progenitor cells, and glia.
- Examination of the interplay between GBM and neurotransmitter signaling in the CNS.
Main Results:
- Neurotransmitters can modulate the proliferation, quiescence, and differentiation of CNS cells, including potential GBM-initiating cells.
- Dopamine and serotonin signaling are implicated in gliomagenesis.
- Neurotransmitter receptors represent potential targets for novel GBM therapies.
Conclusions:
- Neurotransmitter signaling plays a critical role in the initiation and progression of glioblastoma.
- Targeting dopamine and serotonin pathways presents a promising avenue for developing new glioblastoma treatments.
- Understanding the complex biology of GBM-neurotransmitter interactions is key to improving patient outcomes.
More Related Videos
12:52Isolation and Flow Cytometric Analysis of Glioma-infiltrating Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells
Published on: November 28, 2015
10:28Flow Cytometry-based Drug Screening System for the Identification of Small Molecules That Promote Cellular Differentiation of Glioblastoma Stem Cells
Published on: January 10, 2018
