Department of Neuroscience, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Largo F. Vito 1, 00168 Rome, Italy.
Department of Neurosurgery, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS, Largo A. Gemelli 8, 00168 Rome, Italy.
Int J Mol Sci. 2023 Jul 21;24(14):11738. doi: 10.3390/ijms241411738.
In recent years, research on brain cancers has turned towards the study of the interplay between the tumor and its host, the normal brain. Starting from the establishment of a parallelism between neurogenesis and gliomagenesis, the influence of neuronal activity on the development of brain tumors, particularly gliomas, has been partially unveiled. Notably, direct electrochemical synapses between neurons and glioma cells have been identified, paving the way for new approaches for the cure of brain cancers. Since this novel field of study has been defined "cancer neuroscience", anticancer therapeutic approaches exploiting these discoveries can be referred to as "cancer neuromodulation". In the present review, we provide an up-to-date description of the novel findings and of the therapeutic neuromodulation perspectives in cancer neuroscience. We focus both on more traditional oncologic approaches, aimed at modulating the major pathways involved in cancer neuroscience through drugs or genetic engineering techniques, and on electric stimulation proposals; the latter is at the cutting-edge of neuro-oncology.
近年来，脑癌研究的重点转向了肿瘤与其宿主——正常大脑之间相互作用的研究。从神经发生和神经胶质瘤发生之间的平行关系的建立开始，神经元活动对脑肿瘤（特别是神经胶质瘤）发展的影响已经部分被揭示出来。值得注意的是，已经鉴定出神经元和神经胶质瘤细胞之间的直接电化学突触，为脑癌的治疗开辟了新途径。由于这个新的研究领域被定义为“癌症神经科学”，因此利用这些发现的抗癌治疗方法可以被称为“癌症神经调节”。在本综述中，我们提供了癌症神经科学中这些新发现和治疗神经调节观点的最新描述。我们既关注更传统的肿瘤学方法，这些方法旨在通过药物或基因工程技术来调节癌症神经科学中的主要途径，也关注电刺激的建议；后者是神经肿瘤学的前沿领域。
