Breast cancer cells use nerves to spread in the body

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The Types of nerves that enable people to touch, see, hear and taste , can help Breast Cancer cells to penetrate other body regions , shows a study 1 on mice and in laboratory cells. Research also shows that a medication to treat nausea can block the interactions between some cancer and nerve cells.

Further research is required to confirm that the results apply to people with breast cancer. But the paper published today in Nature is the latest in A wave of discoveries about the relationship between cancer and the nervous system . The discovery is unique, however, since these ’sensory‘ nerves seem to interact directly with tumors to promote the spread of cancer instead of triggering immune responses that then support the formation and growth of the tumor.

The focus on sensory nerves, in contrast to other branches of the nervous system, is particularly remarkable, says Timothy Wang, a gastroenterologist at Columbia University in New York City, which was not involved in the study. "These nerve fibers are very numerous and always sensitive," he says. "I come to the conclusion that the sensory nervous system is probably one of the most important overall to convey growth of solid tumors."

nerve cell cancer interaction

The study started when Sothail Tavazoie, an oncologist and cancer biologist at Rockefeller University in New York City, and his colleagues searched for genes who promote the spread of cancer in the body. The search resulted in genes that are involved in the nervous system, and Tavazoies team began to think about whether the Communicate nervous system and cancer cells to promote cancer metastases .

In order to find out this, the researchers examined the presence of proteins that are produced by nerves in breast tumors. They found that the types of cancer that had more nerves became more likely to be more invasive than those with fewer nerves.

Then Veena Padmanaban, a cancer researcher at Rockefeller University, developed a method to breed mouse mammar cells and sensory neurons in the same tissue culture shell. The team found that the presence of cancer cells stimulated the nerves in these cultures to produce a natural molecule called substance P, which is involved in pain and inflammatory reactions, among other processes.

a formula for tumor growth

The researchers then examined human breast cancer samples and found that tumors with high substance-P mirrors were rather sprinkled into the lymph nodes.

tavazoie and his colleagues suggest that substance p triggers a molecular chain reaction, activated the genes that are associated with metastasis. The authors suggest a way to interrupt this cascade with an anti -utament industrial medication that is already given some cancer patients during chemotherapy. The team found that the drug called APRPitant, slowed down tumor growth in mice and signs of invasive potential in cultures with sensory nerves.

aprepitant is usually only given for a few days, but the results indicate that clinical studies in which cancer patients take the medication over a longer period of time could be justified, says Tavazoie.

medicated medication

It remains to be seen how well these results are transferred from the laboratory to the clinic and from breast cancer to other types of tumor. But earlier studies have shown that nerves of the autonomous nervous system, which regulates involuntary organ functions such as heart rate and digestion, can contribute to prostate and gastrointestinal crabs 2 , 3 .

and clinical studies are currently testing 4 by Erica Sloan, a cancer biologist at monash university In Melbourne, Australia, and other scientists who showed that a branch of the autonomous nervous system influences breast cancer. These findings indicated that medication called beta blockers, which are currently being used for the treatment of some cardiovascular diseases that could reduce metastasis chances.

Clinical studies are currently being carried out to test beta blockers in combination with other cancer treatments, including immunotherapy and radiation therapy, says Sloan. "This room of the medication change has opened," she says. "It will be important to see how relevant this is in a clinical environment."