Cancer tumors hijack the genetic program used by developing nerves. This is shown in a study published in the journal Frontiers in Genetics by researchers at Umeå University. In the long term, the results may open up new ways of treating cancer by limiting the tumor’s interaction with the nerves.
“We are still only early in the research, but this opens up exciting opportunities to fight cancer in the body in a completely new way,” says Sara Wilson, associate professor of neurobiology at the Department of Integrative Medical Biology at Umeå University.
In cancer, there is an interaction between tumors and nerves. You could say that the tumor talks to the nervous system. The researchers believe that by interpreting this “conversation,” it will later be possible to find ways to break it and thus slow down the cancer or reduce the risk of it spreading.
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