Publications by authors named "V Venkataramani"
Deepening our understanding of neuro-cancer interactions can innovate brain tumor treatment. This mini review unfolds the most relevant and recent insights into the neural mechanisms contributing to brain tumor initiation, progression, and resistance, including synaptic connections between neurons and cancer cells, paracrine neuro-cancer signaling, and cancer cells' intrinsic neural properties. We explain the basic and clinical-translational relevance of these findings, identify unresolved questions and particularly interesting future research avenues, such as central nervous system neuro-immunooncology, and discuss the potential transferability to extracranial cancers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- Glioblastomas are aggressive brain tumors that resist treatment and utilize neuron-tumor connections to promote their growth, with cholinergic neurons playing a key role in this invasion.
- The study utilized rabies viruses for retrograde tracing to reveal how glioblastomas integrate into brain circuits, showing that radiotherapy can enhance neuron-tumor connectivity, complicating treatment efforts.
- By disrupting neuron-tumor connections, researchers discovered a potential therapeutic approach that could halt glioblastoma progression, emphasizing the need to target these synapses for better treatment outcomes.
Article Synopsis
- Research on improving brain tumor immunotherapy focuses on understanding how T cells enter the tumor area from the bloodstream, specifically through a type of blood vessel called peritumoral venous vessels (PVVs).
- In mouse models of intracranial melanoma, T cells were found to preferentially move through PVVs, while other blood vessels were less involved in T cell recruitment.
- Treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors, like anti-PD-1/CTLA-4, boosted T cell movement from PVVs to tumors, slowing tumor growth, and highlighting the importance of the ICAM-1 molecule in this process, which could have implications for other brain diseases as well.
Article Synopsis
- Gliomas are a type of brain tumor that can be very different from each other and are often hard to treat.
- Researchers used a special method called Patch-seq to study these tumors and found some cells that have characteristics of both brain support cells and nerve cells.
- These hybrid cells can send signals like nerve cells, which could help explain how these tumors grow and behave.