Nerves Keep Pancreatic Cancer Cells from Starving
Pancreatic cancer cells avert starvation by signaling to nerves, which grow into dense tumors and secrete nutrients. This is the finding of a study with experiments in cancer cells, mice, and human tissue samples published online November 2 in Cell.
The study addresses pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), the deadliest cancer of the pancreas with a 5-year survival rate below 10 percent. Such tumors encourage the growth of dense tissue that presses on blood vessels, reducing the supply of blood-borne nutrients like serine. Read more . . .