Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 29, 2025
09:08
Author Spotlight: Advancing Glioblastoma Treatment Through Intraarterial Delivery Strategies for Oncolytic Viruses and MicroRNAs
Published on: March 15, 2024
2.1K
Targeting tumor innervation: premises, promises, and challenges.
Xinyu Li1, Xueqiang Peng1, Shuo Yang1
1Department of General Surgery, The Fourth Affiliated Hospital, China Medical University, Shenyang, 110032, China.
Cell Death Discovery
|March 26, 2022
Summary
High intratumoral nerve density correlates with poor cancer outcomes. This review explores nerve-tumor communication in the tumor microenvironment (TME) and its role in cancer progression, offering new therapeutic strategies.
Area of Science:
- Oncology
- Neuroscience
- Cancer Biology
Background:
- High intratumoral nerve density is linked to poor survival, metastasis, and recurrence in solid tumors.
- Cancer cells and infiltrating nerves communicate within the tumor microenvironment (TME).
- This communication involves neurotrophic factors, exosomes, and neurotransmitters.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review seminal studies on tumor innervation.
- To discuss nerve-tumor cell communication within the TME.
- To reveal nerve-tumor regulatory mechanisms in cancer progression.
Main Methods:
- Literature review of key studies on tumor innervation.
- Analysis of mechanisms underlying nerve-tumor interactions.
- Discussion of therapeutic strategies targeting TME communication.
Main Results:
- Tumor innervation is associated with adverse clinical outcomes.
- Nerves influence oncogenesis, angiogenesis, lymphangiogenesis, and immunity via exosomes and neurotransmitters.
- Understanding nerve-tumor crosstalk is crucial for cancer biology.
Conclusions:
- Nerve-tumor communication significantly impacts cancer progression.
- Targeting TME communication, including nerve-tumor interactions, presents promising therapeutic avenues.
- Repurposing existing drugs offers a novel strategy to inhibit tumor malignancy.
Related Concept Videos
01:27Tumor Immunotherapy
693
Immunotherapy is a treatment that boosts or manipulates the immune system to fight diseases, including cancer. For instance, by stimulating an immune response through vaccinations against viruses that cause cancers, like hepatitis B virus and human papillomavirus, these diseases can be prevented. Nonetheless, some cancer cells can avoid the immune system due to their rapid mutation and division. The immune response to many cancers involves three phases: elimination, equilibrium, and escape.
693
02:57Targeted Cancer Therapies
7.9K
The targeted cancer therapies, also known as “molecular targeted therapies,” take advantage of the molecular and genetic differences between the cancer cells and the normal cells. It needs a thorough understanding of the cancer cells to develop drugs that can target specific molecular aspects that drive the growth, progression, and spread of cancer cells without affecting the growth and survival of other normal cells in the body.
There are several types of targeted therapies against...
There are several types of targeted therapies against...
7.9K
02:17The Tumor Microenvironment
6.8K
Every normal cell or tissue is embedded in a complex local environment called stroma, consisting of different cell types, a basal membrane, and blood vessels. As normal cells mutate and develop into cancer cells, their local environment also changes to allow cancer progression. The tumor microenvironment (TME) consists of a complex cellular matrix of stromal cells and the developing tumor. The cross-talk between cancer cells and surrounding stromal cells is critical to disrupt normal tissue...
6.8K