Cancer neuroscience: State of the field, emerging directions

Frank Winkler; Humsa S Venkatesh; Moran Amit; Tracy Batchelor; Ihsan Ekin Demir; Benjamin Deneen; David H Gutmann; Shawn Hervey-Jumper; Thomas Kuner; Donald Mabbott; Michael Platten; Asya Rolls; Erica K Sloan; Timothy C Wang; Wolfgang Wick; Varun Venkataramani; Michelle Monje

doi:10.1016/j.cell.2023.02.002

Cancer neuroscience: State of the field, emerging directions

Cell. 2023 Apr 13;186(8):1689-1707. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2023.02.002.

Authors

Frank Winkler¹, Humsa S Venkatesh², Moran Amit³, Tracy Batchelor², Ihsan Ekin Demir⁴, Benjamin Deneen⁵, David H Gutmann⁶, Shawn Hervey-Jumper⁷, Thomas Kuner⁸, Donald Mabbott⁹, Michael Platten¹⁰, Asya Rolls¹¹, Erica K Sloan¹², Timothy C Wang¹³, Wolfgang Wick¹⁴, Varun Venkataramani¹⁵, Michelle Monje¹⁶

Affiliations

¹ Neurology Clinic and National Center for Tumor Diseases, University Hospital Heidelberg and Clinical Cooperation Unit Neurooncology, German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany. Electronic address: frank.winkler@med.uni-heidelberg.de.
² Department of Neurology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
³ Department of Head and Neck Surgery, MD Anderson Cancer Center and The University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Houston, TX, USA.
⁴ Department of Surgery, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
⁵ Center for Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA.
⁶ Department of Neurology, Washington University, St Louis, MO, USA.
⁷ Department of Neurosurgery, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
⁸ Department of Functional Neuroanatomy, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
⁹ Department of Psychology, University of Toronto and Neuroscience & Mental Health Program, Research Institute, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada.
¹⁰ Department of Neurology, Medical Faculty Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
¹¹ Department of Immunology, Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel.
¹² Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Drug Discovery Biology Theme, Monash University, Parkville, VIC, Australia.
¹³ Department of Medicine, Division of Digestive and Gastrointestinal Diseases, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
¹⁴ Neurology Clinic and National Center for Tumor Diseases, University Hospital Heidelberg and Clinical Cooperation Unit Neurooncology, German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany.
¹⁵ Neurology Clinic and National Center for Tumor Diseases, University Hospital Heidelberg and Clinical Cooperation Unit Neurooncology, German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany; Department of Functional Neuroanatomy, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany. Electronic address: varun.venkataramani@med.uni-heidelberg.de.
¹⁶ Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA. Electronic address: mmonje@stanford.edu.

Abstract

The nervous system governs both ontogeny and oncology. Regulating organogenesis during development, maintaining homeostasis, and promoting plasticity throughout life, the nervous system plays parallel roles in the regulation of cancers. Foundational discoveries have elucidated direct paracrine and electrochemical communication between neurons and cancer cells, as well as indirect interactions through neural effects on the immune system and stromal cells in the tumor microenvironment in a wide range of malignancies. Nervous system-cancer interactions can regulate oncogenesis, growth, invasion and metastatic spread, treatment resistance, stimulation of tumor-promoting inflammation, and impairment of anti-cancer immunity. Progress in cancer neuroscience may create an important new pillar of cancer therapy.

Publication types

Review
Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Humans
Immune System
Neoplasms* / pathology
Neurons / pathology
Neurosciences*
Tumor Microenvironment

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding