Sensory neuron-cancer pseudo-synapses drive pancreatic cancer

The researchers demonstrate pseudo-synaptic connections between sensory neurons and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) cells.

These pseudo-synapses exhibit enrichment of NMDA receptor subunit GRIN2D/GluN2D, enhancing PDAC responsiveness to neuron-derived glutamate and promoting tumor growth.

The authors also found neurons transform a subset of co-cultured PDAC cells into calcium-responsive cells via GRIN2D-type glutamate receptors at the neuron-cancer pseudo-synapses.

Disrupting glutamate-GRIN2D signaling at pseudo-synapses improves survival in PDAC, highlighting the therapeutic potential of targeting cancer-neuronpseudo-synapses.

https://www.cell.com/cancer-cell/fulltext/S1535-6108(25)00395-2

https://sciencemission.com/Sensory-neurons-drive-pancreatic-cancer