Cancer cells are notoriously ravenous, consuming far more glucose than normal cells do. This has led researchers to search for ways to kill tumors by starving them or disrupting their metabolic pathways, but an increasing pile of evidence, including research published today (November 16) in Cell Metabolism, indicates that cancers have several tricks that allow them to survive even in nutrient-depleted microenvironments. The new paper finds that oral cancer cells can tap nearby accomplices—in this case, the host’s pain-sensing nerves—to produce the peptides they need to continue growing and resist treatments.
“I think the paper is both an exciting and welcome addition to a growing body of literature that shows that cancer cells don’t act in isolation,” says Duke University cancer researcher and clinician Jatin Roper, who didn’t work on the study. He adds that while other research had implicated nearby nociceptive nerves—those that detect and transmit pain signals—in the ...
