New research from the University of Oklahoma suggests an aggressive form of breast cancer can manipulate the immune system to draw nerves into tumors, creating conditions that may help the disease grow, according to ScienceDaily.
The study focused on triple-negative breast cancer, a hard-to-treat type of the disease. Scientists said tumors attract macrophages, immune cells that normally help fight infection and repair tissue, and those cells then release a protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor, or BDNF.
BDNF is best known for supporting nerve cell growth in the brain. In this case, researchers found it appears to encourage nerves to grow into the tumor, a process that may contribute to cancer progression and treatment resistance.
Maureen Cox, Ph.D., said macrophages are the key source of the nerve-drawing signal. In mouse tests, the team used a drug that blocks BDNF signaling and found that nerves no longer grew into the tumors and tumor growth was significantly reduced.
The researchers also examined human triple-negative breast cancer data and found that tumors with higher levels of macrophages and BDNF were associated with poorer survival. The team now plans to better understand how nerves support tumor growth and to test the approach in high-grade ovarian cancer.
