Ebiomedicine: intestinal glial cells actually promote tumor growth

February 13, 2020 / Biovalley BIOON / -- research led by North Carolina State University found that when intestinal glial cells contact secretions of colon tumors, glial cells can be transformed into tumor growth promoters This work demonstrates the importance of intestinal glial cells in tumor microenvironment and may lead to new targets for colon cancer treatment The function of the gut nervous system is equivalent to the "brain" or local nervous system of the gut Neurons and glial cells in the intestinal nervous system work together to regulate intestinal peristalsis and other important intestinal functions, and help to control the function of epithelial cells or intestinal mucosa Photo source: ebiomedicine creates a tumor microenvironment when the cancerous tumor grows in the intestine The microenvironment consists of resident or recruited cells, such as surrounding glial cells, neurons, blood vessels, immune cells and various signal molecules The tumor interacts with the surrounding microenvironment "Only a small number of cancer cells - colon cancer stem cells (CSCs) - are thought to produce tumors," said laurianne van landeghem, assistant professor of Neurogastroenterology in North Carolina "In the tumor microenvironment, CSCs are constantly exposed to the molecular regulation of the secretion of adjacent cells Intestinal glial cells are an important part of tumor microenvironment, but no one has studied whether these cells affect the ability of CSCs to produce new tumors "Van landeghem and an international team, including Simon vales, a doctoral student at the University of Nantes in France, studied tumors in colon cancer patients in the United States and France "We isolated CSCs from tumors and cultured them with or without glial cells to see if the secretion of glial cells affects the formation and growth of tumors," van landeghem said "When the team exposed CSCs to secretions of glial cells that grew independently of the tumor, no significant increase in tumor growth was observed However, when the team cultured the glial cells in the same medium as the tumor cells, and then applied these secretions to CSCs, the tumors formed faster and larger "In the tumor microenvironment, cancer cells secrete a molecule called IL-1 that can be altered if absorbed by nearby glial cells," van landeghem said These altered glial cells in turn secrete a molecule called PGE2, which stimulates CSCs, causes tumor formation and accelerates tumor growth Researchers have previously detailed the role of two molecules, but until now we know that they are involved in the communication between tumors and glial cells "The tumor is essentially reshaping the nearby glia in order to make it thrive We have identified the effects of this remodeling molecule and the tumorigenic effects of glial cells It is hoped that this study will give us a better understanding of the role of glial cells in colon cancer and may help us find new targets for cancer treatment "The study was published in the Journal ebiomedicine Reference materials: Simon val è s et al, tumor cells hijack essential glia to activate colon cancer stem cells and still tomorrow, ebiomedicine (2019) Doi: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2019.09.045