Good news! Cancer is history (soon)!
You wonder whether other cancers also manipulate the nervous system!
"A new study ... has found a link between the nervous system and the rapid development of neuroendocrine prostate cancer (NEPC), an aggressive form of the disease. ... the study found high levels of neuromedin U (NMU), a kind of neurotransmitter, present in prostate cells at the very early phase of NEPC formation, which support tumor progression by blocking the immune response. These findings could present a target for therapy for what is now a virtually untreatable disease. ..."
From the abstract:
"Neuroendocrine prostate cancer (NEPC) is an increasingly recognized, highly aggressive disease variant with no actionable therapeutic targets and a life expectancy of 7 months or less.
Using a transgenic mouse model, we now show that early stages of NEPC are associated with increased intraprostatic recruitment of Ly6G+ polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMN) and reduced infiltration of CD8+ T cells. This coincided with expansive transcriptional changes of increased cell viability and cell migration, as well as upregulation of multiple neuronal mediators with the neuropeptide, Neuromedin U (NMU) as the top hit (Z score = 4.34; FDR < 5%; p = 3.62 × 10−9). Analysis of a large cohort of human patient samples revealed that NMU was highly expressed in early and late stage prostate cancer, preferentially segregating with AR-/NE+ metastases. Exposure of PMN to recombinant NMU was sufficient to stimulate cell migration, inflammatory gene expression with increased levels of the cytokine-like alarmin, S100A9 and suppression of T cell proliferation.
Genetic or pharmacological targeting of NMU/S100A9 signaling inhibited NEPC growth, reinvigorated an intratumoral immune microenvironment via recruitment of tumor antigen-specific CD8+ T cells with ‘stem-like’ (TCF1+/PD1+) and cytotoxic (GrzB+/KLRG1+) properties and enhanced the activity of therapeutic immune checkpoint inhibition, in vivo.
Therefore, NMU ‘innervation’ drives myeloid immunosuppression in NEPC and provides a therapeutic target to restore sensitivity to immunotherapy in this highly refractory malignancy."
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