To solve the mystery of tumor hijacking nerve cells, scientists have discovered the anti-cancer potential of antihypertensive drugs

Recently, a group of heavyweight studies published in nature and three papers published at the same time found that cancer cells and nerve cells can form so-called "synaptic" connections to interact directly, thus promoting the growth of fatal brain tumors and making cancer cells more aggressive This fact and other evidences strongly suggest that neurons are key components of tumor microenvironment So, how can the neural cells of Haoer grow in the tumor microenvironment and become a tiger? In a new paper published online today in nature, a team of researchers from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center challenged the problem, revealing how tumors hijack neurons to promote their own growth The discovery also provides clues for new anti-cancer therapies The research team focuses on head and neck surgery, and most of the tumors in the mouth, throat, nose and other parts are classified as head and neck cancer Smoking, drinking and chewing betel nuts all increase the risk of head and neck cancer According to the surgeons' clinical observation, when the head and neck cancer tumor contains many nerve endings, the patients often have a higher degree of deterioration, a higher recurrence rate and a shorter survival rate Jeffrey Myers, MD, head and neck surgery director and co-author of this study, said: "but we don't know whether the tumor is growing in the nerve, or whether the nerve is growing in the tumor, and what signals promote their interaction." Using four different mouse models of oral cancer, and comparing the clinical data obtained from biopsies of cancer patients, the researchers first found that p53 deficient tumors formed more neurons than wild-type p53 tumors P53 protein has a very close relationship with cancer Under normal circumstances, it can inhibit cancer, but once mutation occurs, it can promote the development of cancer TP53, the gene encoding p53, is the most common mutation in head and neck cancer ▲ p53 deficient cancer cells promote neuronal growth (picture source: reference [1]) In the past, scientists have learned that tumor cells release vesicles to communicate with neighboring cells After this analysis, the researchers found that when there is normal expression of p53 in cells, the secreted vesicles contain a microRNA (miRNA), which can prevent the proliferation of adjacent neurons However, this miRNA is absent from the vesicles secreted by the cancer cells mutating p53, which will lead to the formation of new neurons "We used to think that nerves just spread randomly into tumors, but now it's not at all." First author Dr Moran Amit concluded ▲ mutant p53 cancer cells manipulate adjacent neurons through vesicle contents (photo source: reference [2]) What's more, scientists have found that the signal released by mutated p53 cancer cells not only increases the number of neurons around, but also changes the function of neurons Specifically, they turn neurons into adrenergic neurons that secrete noradrenaline to help cancer cells grow After observing the phenomenon that adrenergic neurons are used by cancer cells, scientists came up with a new idea of anti-cancer treatment: try drugs for hypertension! This is because some prescription drugs for high blood pressure or arrhythmia, such as carvedilol, work by blocking the adrenergic receptor In fact, there have been some epidemiological analyses in the past that have shown that the use of carvedilol is related to reducing the risk of certain cancers The idea was then tested in mice with oral cancer When the mice were transplanted with p53 deficient tumor cells, blocking the adrenergic signal pathway with carvedilol could effectively slow down the tumor growth This may provide a new therapeutic tool for targeting tumor ▲ blocking adrenergic signal slows down the growth of p53 mutant cancer cells (picture source: reference [2]) The importance of this research is highly valued in nature It is pointed out that p53 mutation is not only common in head and neck cancer, but also an important mutation in many other types of cancer, such as 60% of colon cancer, 50% - 80% of lung cancer and 95% of ovarian cancer Many researchers are designing anticancer drugs for p53 mutations, and according to the study, "it is worth testing that the combination of carvedilol and drugs for mutant p53 may be more effective in the treatment of fatal cancer." reference material: