Tumours boost their own growth by attracting and then commandeering nearby sensory neurons, a study finds. By 'plugging into' tumour cells, these neurons can send a signal to the brain that subdues the protective activity of immune cells at the tumour site ' allowing the cancerous cells to proliferate unchecked. The study, published today in Nature1, pinpointed this signalling pathway, from the tumour to the brain and back again, in mice with lung cancer. 'The tumour hijacks the signalling axis and uses it for its own purpose,' says Anna-Maria Globig, a cancer immunologist at the Allen Institute for Immunology in Seattle, Washington. When the authors of the study used genetic engineering to inactivate, or 'knock out', the sensory neurons, they 'saw such a huge, dramatic reduction' in tumour growth ' more than 50% ' says co-author Chengcheng Jin, a cancer immunologist at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Researchers have long known that nerve cells reside in tumours....
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