Integrating priorities at the intersection of cancer and neuroscience

William L Hwang¹, Ella N Perrault², Alexander Birbrair³, Brandi J Mattson⁴, David H Gutmann⁵, Donald J Mabbott⁶, Edna Cukierman⁷, Elizabeth A Repasky⁸, Erica K Sloan⁹, Hui Zong¹⁰, Ihsan Ekin Demir¹¹, Jami L Saloman¹², Jeremy C Borniger¹³, Jian Hu¹⁴, Jorg Dietrich¹⁵, Joshua J Breunig¹⁶, Kaan Çifcibaşı¹⁷, Khalil Ali Ahmad Kasm¹⁸, Manuel Valiente¹⁹, Max Wintermark²⁰, Munjal M Acharya²¹, Nicole N Scheff²², Nisha J D'Silva²³, Paola D Vermeer²⁴, Richard J Wong²⁵, Sebastien Talbot²⁶, Shawn L Hervey-Jumper²⁷, Timothy C Wang²⁸, Yi Ye²⁹, Yuan Pan¹⁸, Yuri L Bunimovich³⁰, Moran Amit³¹

Affiliations

¹ Center for Systems Biology, Center for Cancer Research, and Department of Radiation Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Broad Institute of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA. Electronic address: whwang1@mgh.harvard.edu.
² Center for Systems Biology, Center for Cancer Research, and Department of Radiation Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Broad Institute of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA; Program in Neuroscience, Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
³ Department of Dermatology, Carbone Cancer Center, and Department of Cell and Regenerative Biology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
⁴ The Belfer Neurodegeneration Consortium, Therapeutics Discovery Division, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA.
⁵ Department of Neurology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA.
⁶ Neurosciences and Mental Health Program, Research Institute, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada.
⁷ Fox Chase Cancer Center, Temple Health, Philadelphia, PA, USA; Tumor Microenvironment Working Group, American Association for Cancer Research, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
⁸ Department of Immunology, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, NY, USA.
⁹ Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
¹⁰ Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Cancer Biology, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, VA, USA.
¹¹ Department of Surgery, TUM University Hospital, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany; Else Kröner Clinician Scientist Professor, Munich, Germany.
¹² Department of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Department of Neurobiology, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
¹³ Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY, USA.
¹⁴ Department of Cancer Biology, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA.
¹⁵ Department of Neurology, Center for Neuro-Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
¹⁶ Department of Biomedical Sciences, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
¹⁷ Department of Surgery, TUM University Hospital, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
¹⁸ Department of Symptom Research, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA.
¹⁹ Brain Metastasis Group, CNIO, Madrid, Spain.
²⁰ Department of Neuroradiology, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA.
²¹ Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of California at Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA.
²² Department of Neurobiology, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
²³ Department of Periodontics and Oral Medicine, School of Dentistry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
²⁴ Cancer Biology and Immunotherapies Group, Sanford Research, Sioux Falls, SD, USA.
²⁵ Department of Surgery, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA.
²⁶ Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Karolinska Institute, Solna, Sweden; Department of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada.
²⁷ Department of Neurosurgery and Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
²⁸ Division of Digestive and Liver Diseases, Department of Medicine, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA.
²⁹ Translational Research Center, Pain Research Center, Department of Molecular Pathobiology, New York University College of Dentistry, New York, NY, USA.
³⁰ Department of Dermatology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
³¹ Department of Head and Neck Surgery and the Department of Genomic Medicine, Division of Cancer Medicine, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA; University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Houston, TX, USA. Electronic address: mamit@mdanderson.org.

PMID: 39423816
PMCID: PMC11732710
DOI: 10.1016/j.ccell.2024.09.014

Integrating priorities at the intersection of cancer and neuroscience

William L Hwang et al. Cancer Cell. 2025.

. 2025 Jan 13;43(1):1-5.

doi: 10.1016/j.ccell.2024.09.014. Epub 2024 Oct 17.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Center for Systems Biology, Center for Cancer Research, and Department of Radiation Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Broad Institute of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA. Electronic address: whwang1@mgh.harvard.edu.
² Center for Systems Biology, Center for Cancer Research, and Department of Radiation Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Broad Institute of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA; Program in Neuroscience, Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
³ Department of Dermatology, Carbone Cancer Center, and Department of Cell and Regenerative Biology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
⁴ The Belfer Neurodegeneration Consortium, Therapeutics Discovery Division, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA.
⁵ Department of Neurology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA.
⁶ Neurosciences and Mental Health Program, Research Institute, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada.
⁷ Fox Chase Cancer Center, Temple Health, Philadelphia, PA, USA; Tumor Microenvironment Working Group, American Association for Cancer Research, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
⁸ Department of Immunology, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, NY, USA.
⁹ Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
¹⁰ Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Cancer Biology, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, VA, USA.
¹¹ Department of Surgery, TUM University Hospital, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany; Else Kröner Clinician Scientist Professor, Munich, Germany.
¹² Department of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Department of Neurobiology, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
¹³ Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY, USA.
¹⁴ Department of Cancer Biology, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA.
¹⁵ Department of Neurology, Center for Neuro-Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
¹⁶ Department of Biomedical Sciences, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
¹⁷ Department of Surgery, TUM University Hospital, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
¹⁸ Department of Symptom Research, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA.
¹⁹ Brain Metastasis Group, CNIO, Madrid, Spain.
²⁰ Department of Neuroradiology, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA.
²¹ Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of California at Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA.
²² Department of Neurobiology, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
²³ Department of Periodontics and Oral Medicine, School of Dentistry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
²⁴ Cancer Biology and Immunotherapies Group, Sanford Research, Sioux Falls, SD, USA.
²⁵ Department of Surgery, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA.
²⁶ Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Karolinska Institute, Solna, Sweden; Department of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada.
²⁷ Department of Neurosurgery and Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
²⁸ Division of Digestive and Liver Diseases, Department of Medicine, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA.
²⁹ Translational Research Center, Pain Research Center, Department of Molecular Pathobiology, New York University College of Dentistry, New York, NY, USA.
³⁰ Department of Dermatology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
³¹ Department of Head and Neck Surgery and the Department of Genomic Medicine, Division of Cancer Medicine, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA; University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Houston, TX, USA. Electronic address: mamit@mdanderson.org.

PMID: 39423816
PMCID: PMC11732710
DOI: 10.1016/j.ccell.2024.09.014

Abstract

Cancer neuroscience is a rapidly growing multidisciplinary field that conceptualizes tumors as tissues fully integrated into the nervous system. Recognizing the complexity and challenges in this field is of fundamental importance to achieving the goal of translational impact for cancer patients. Our commentary highlights key scientific priorities, optimal training settings, and roadblocks to translating scientific findings to the clinic in this emerging field, aiming to formulate a transformative and cohesive path forward.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of interests The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

**Figure 1.. Broad spectrum of research domains included in cancer neuroscience**
(A) The role of the nervous system in regulating tumor onset, growth, and progression; (B) the adaptation of the nervous system to the tumor and tumor-derived substances; (C) the impact of cancer treatments on neuronal function; and (D) the parallels between normal neural development and the genesis of tumors.

**Figure 2.. Barriers to translating cancer neuroscience knowledge to clinical applications**
(Left) bar graph representing survey responses (n = 330) to the multiple-choice question “What is the primary barrier to translating cancer neuroscience knowledge to clinical applications?” (Right) Pie chart representing survey responses (n = 188) to the multiple-choice question “If lack of fundamental knowledge, why?” from individuals who selected “Lack of fundamental knowledge” as the primary barrier to translating cancer neuroscience knowledge to clinical applications.

See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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Integrating priorities at the intersection of cancer and neuroscience

Affiliations

Integrating priorities at the intersection of cancer and neuroscience

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

Figures

References

MeSH terms

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