The central and autonomic nervous systems interact and converge to build up an adrenergic nerve network capable of promoting cancer. While a local adrenergic sympathetic innervation in peripheral solid tumors influences cancer and stromal cell behavior, the brain can participate to the development of cancer through an intermixed dysregulation of the sympathoadrenal system, adrenergic neurons, and the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis. A deeper understanding of the adrenergic nerve circuitry within the brain and tumors and its interactions with the microenvironment should enable elucidation of original mechanisms of cancer and novel therapeutic strategies.
Keywords: Adrenergic nerve circuitry; Adrenergic nerve signaling; Adrenergic neuron; Autonomic nervous system; Cancer neuroscience; Central nervous system; Hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis; Sympathetic nervous system; Sympathoadrenal system; Tumor axonogenesis; Tumor microenvironment; Tumor neurogenesis.
© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.