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近日，爱因斯坦医学院等多家机构的科学家们通过研究前列腺癌的小鼠模型指出，在前列腺肿瘤附近的神经纤维将会使前列腺癌更易扩散和增值。相关研究成果已发表在国际期刊《Science》上。
 

人们已知肿瘤会触发新血管的生长以促进对其氧气和营养物质的供应。但是，根据一项对小鼠的新的研究，这种所谓的肿瘤血管生成并非肿瘤利用其健康组织“微环境”来加速其生长的唯一方法。

在这项研究中，医生在线答疑，科学家们研究了前列腺癌的小鼠模型并发现，，在肿瘤中及肿瘤周围的高密度的神经生长可帮助前列腺癌的生长及扩散。

研究人员观察到，手术性或化学性破坏前列腺内的交感神经——即那些与“战或逃”有关的神经——可防止肿瘤的早期生长，而用药理学的方法抑制副交感神经——即那些发出“休息与消化”信号的神经——则可抑制肿瘤的播散。

此外，研究人员还分析了来自43位前列腺癌患者的肿瘤样本并发现，在肿瘤内及肿瘤周围的高密度的这种神经纤维与不良的临床转归有关。

鉴于其发现，研究人员提出，抑制这些神经发育的药物作为一种可能的前列腺癌疗法而值得人们研究。

一则由 John Isaacs 撰写的《观点栏目》文章“Prostate Cancer Takes Nerve”更为详细地讨论了这些发现。

原文链接：
 

Prostate Cancer Takes Nerve
John T. Isaacs

One in six American males will develop prostate cancer during their lifetime, and once prostate cancer metastasizes to distant sites, it is incurable at present (1). This translates into the sobering reality that more than a quarter of a million men will die of prostate cancer this year throughout the world (2). Thus, new therapeutic approaches to this devastating disease are urgently needed. In this regard, preventing and/or disrupting neoneurogenesis—the ingrowth of nerve endings into the tumor—in prostate cancer is a newly discovered therapeutic target. Innervation of the prostate gland controls its growth and maintenance, but little is known about the function of neurons in prostate cancer. On page 10.1126/science.1236361 of this issue, Magnon et al. (3) report how the autonomous nervous system (which controls internal organs and glands, below the level of consciousness) stimulates the initiation and metastasis of prostate cancer.

Autonomic Nerve Development Contributes to Prostate Cancer Progression
Claire Magnon, Simon J. Hall, Juan Lin, Xiaonan Xue, Leah Gerber, Stephen J. Freedland, Paul S. Frenette.

Cancer cells usurp the healthy tissue microenvironment to promote their survival, proliferation, and dissemination. The role of angiogenesis, the formation of new blood vessels, in solid tumor growth is well established. Whether neurogenesis, the formation of new nerve fibers, likewise contributes to tumor development and progression remains unclear. Here, studying mouse models and human tumor samples, we examined the role of the autonomic nervous system in prostate cancer growth and dissemination.