304-Neuronal Glutamate Signaling Hijacks Pancreatic Cancer
The research investigates a novel mechanism driving the progression of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) by demonstrating the presence of glutamatergic neuron-cancer pseudo-synapses between sensory nerve endings and cancer cells. This mechanism centers on the cancer cells' selective enrichment of the NMDA receptor subunit GRIN2D at the pseudo-synaptic sites, making them sensitive to neuron-derived glutamate. Activation of this glutamate-GRIN2D signaling pathway establishes a detrimental feedforward loop that significantly promotes tumor growth, invasiveness, and increased innervation in…
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