Institute of Pharmacology, Medical Faculty Heidelberg, Heidelberg University, Im Neuenheimer Feld 366, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany.
Department of Medicine II, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Theodor-Kutzer-Ufer 1-3, 68167 Mannheim, Germany.
Int J Mol Sci. 2023 Oct 8;24(19):14989. doi: 10.3390/ijms241914989.
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) represents one of the most aggressive solid tumors with a dismal prognosis and an increasing incidence. At the time of diagnosis, more than 85% of patients are in an unresectable stage. For these patients, chemotherapy can prolong survival by only a few months. Unfortunately, in recent decades, no groundbreaking therapies have emerged for PDAC, thus raising the question of how to identify novel therapeutic druggable targets to improve prognosis. Recently, the tumor microenvironment and especially its neural component has gained increasing interest in the pancreatic cancer field. A histological hallmark of PDAC is perineural invasion (PNI), whereby cancer cells invade surrounding nerves, providing an alternative route for metastatic spread. The extent of PNI has been positively correlated with early tumor recurrence and reduced overall survival. Multiple studies have shown that mechanisms involved in PNI are also involved in tumor spread and pain generation. Targeting these pathways has shown promising results in alleviating pain and reducing PNI in preclinical models. In this review, we will describe the mechanisms and future treatment strategies to target this mutually trophic interaction between cancer cells to open novel avenues for the treatment of patients diagnosed with PDAC.
胰腺导管腺癌 (PDAC) 是最具侵袭性的实体肿瘤之一,预后极差,发病率不断上升。在诊断时,超过 85%的患者处于不可切除的阶段。对于这些患者,化疗只能延长几个月的生存期。不幸的是,近几十年来,PDAC 并没有出现突破性的治疗方法,因此人们提出了如何识别新的治疗靶点来改善预后的问题。最近,肿瘤微环境,尤其是其神经成分,在胰腺癌领域引起了越来越多的关注。PDAC 的一个组织学特征是神经周围浸润 (PNI),癌细胞侵犯周围神经,为转移扩散提供了另一种途径。PNI 的程度与早期肿瘤复发和总生存期缩短呈正相关。多项研究表明,PNI 涉及的机制也与肿瘤扩散和疼痛产生有关。在临床前模型中,针对这些途径的治疗已显示出缓解疼痛和减少 PNI 的有前景的结果。在这篇综述中,我们将描述针对这种癌细胞之间互惠共生相互作用的机制和未来治疗策略,为诊断为 PDAC 的患者的治疗开辟新途径。
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