Evidence of the Nerve–Cancer Connection in Female Reproductive Cancers †
1
Hunter Medical Research Institute, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia
2
CICECO—Aveiro Institute of Materials, Complexo de Laboratórios Tecnológicos, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
3
School of Biomedical Sciences & Pharmacy, Faculty of Health and Medicine, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
†
Presented at the 1st International Electronic Conference on Cancers: Exploiting Cancer Vulnerability by Targeting the DNA Damage Response, 1–14 February 2021; Available online: https://iecc2021.sciforum.net/ .
Med. Sci. Forum 2021, 3(1), 9; https://doi.org/10.3390/IECC2021-09199
Published: 31 January 2021
(This article belongs to the Proceedings of The 1st International Electronic Conference on Cancers: Exploiting Cancer Vulnerability by Targeting the DNA Damage Response)
Abstract
:In recent years, the infiltration of tumors by axons or nerves has been increasingly reported and has been linked to poor prognosis. This includes, among others, publications by Magnon et al. (Science 341, 2013); and our own work (Faulkner et al., FASEB BioAdvances 2, 2020). Thus, recent investigations have been defying the old mechanistic, non-participating, view of the role of the nervous system in the tumor microenvironment. The ‘nerve–cancer connection’ now is believed to encompass novel therapeutic targets already reported for breast, prostate and gastric cancers. However, the role of the autonomic nervous system in ovarian cancer development and progression remains unclear. We aimed to characterize this new component in the ovarian tumor microenvironment. We identified the infiltration of peripheral axons in some ovarian tumors. In addition, ovarian tumors expressed neurotrophins, including nerve growth factor (NGF), in particular in the initial onset of the tumor. Our work exposes the need to further comprehend the role of the nervous system in female cancers, namely in the unique microenvironments of ovarian tumors.
Supplementary Materials
The following are available online at https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/IECC2021-09199/s1.
Institutional Review Board Statement
Not applicable.
Informed Consent Statement
Not applicable.
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. |
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Share and Cite
MDPI and ACS Style
Rodrigues Oliveira, S.M.; Hondermarck, H.; Jobling, P. Evidence of the Nerve–Cancer Connection in Female Reproductive Cancers. Med. Sci. Forum 2021, 3, 9. https://doi.org/10.3390/IECC2021-09199
AMA Style
Rodrigues Oliveira SM, Hondermarck H, Jobling P. Evidence of the Nerve–Cancer Connection in Female Reproductive Cancers. Medical Sciences Forum. 2021; 3(1):9. https://doi.org/10.3390/IECC2021-09199
Chicago/Turabian StyleRodrigues Oliveira, Sonia M., Hubert Hondermarck, and Phillip Jobling. 2021. "Evidence of the Nerve–Cancer Connection in Female Reproductive Cancers" Medical Sciences Forum 3, no. 1: 9. https://doi.org/10.3390/IECC2021-09199
