Cancer hallmarks intersect with neuroscience in the tumor microenvironment

The mechanisms underlying the multistep process of tumorigenesis can be distilled into a logical framework involving the acquisition of functional capabilities, the so-called hallmarks of cancer, which are collectively envisaged to be necessary for malignancy. These capabilities, embodied both in transformed cancer cells as well as in the heterotypic accessory cells that together constitute the tumor microenvironment (TME), are conveyed by certain abnormal characteristics of the cancerous phenotype. This perspective discusses the link between the nervous system and the induction of hallmark capabilities, revealing neurons and neuronal projections (axons) as hallmark-inducing constituents of the TME. We also…

• VA
  Virginia and D.K. Ludwig Fund for Cancer Research
• LI
  Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research
• CR
  Cancer Research UK
• ÉP
  École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
• UD
  Université de Lausanne
• NI
  National Institutes of Health

  Awards: DP1NS111132, R01NS092597, R01CA258384, U19CA264504, P50CA165962