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Brain cancer

Tumour cells on neighbourhood watch

Nature volume 528, pages 49–50 (2015)Cite this article

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The discovery of microtube structures that link tumour cells in some invasive brain tumours reveals how these cancers spread, and how they resist treatment. See Article p.93

Hardly any diagnosis is as distressing as that of a primary brain tumour. These tumours, often known as gliomas, are a varied group that originate from immature stem cells or from glial cells, which support and protect neuronal networks throughout the brain1. Gliomas proliferate uncontrollably, destroying surrounding brain tissue and causing profound neurological damage. They are responsible for around 14,000 deaths each year in the United States alone2, and are almost always deadly, owing to their resistance to radiation therapy and ability to infiltrate healthy brain tissue. In this issue, Osswald et al.3 (page 93) shed light on what confers these destructive abilities.

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Figure 1: A network of neighbours.

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References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Harald Sontheimer is at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute, Glial Biology in Health, Disease & Cancer Center, Roanoke, Virginia 24016, USA.,

    Harald Sontheimer

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  1. Harald Sontheimer
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Correspondence to Harald Sontheimer.

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Sontheimer, H. Tumour cells on neighbourhood watch. Nature 528, 49–50 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature15649

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