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Cancer cells have the ability to connect to and feed off of neurons in the brain, according to three studies published in Nature on Wednesday (September 18). The findings may explain why certain brain cancers are so difficult to treat and could lead to new cancer treatment methods.
Two of the studies are on brain cancers called high-grade gliomas. The third focuses on breast cancer cells that metastasize to the brain. The researchers found that the cells in these tumors can form what are essentially synapses, or connections between neurons.
Tumor cells “are integrating into neural circuits in the brain,” Michelle Monje, a neurologist and neuroscience researcher at Stanford University who led one of the studies on glioma, tells NPR. “The cancer cells themselves are promoting the neuronal activity that then feeds back to drive the growth of the cancer.”
“Our first reaction was, ‘This is ...
