神经对前列腺癌的扩散起关键作用.docVIP

Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have found that nerves play a critical role in both the development and spread of prostate tumors. Their findings, using both a mouse model and human prostate tissue, may lead to new ways to predict the aggressiveness of prostate cancer and to novel therapies for preventing and treating the disease. The study published online today in the July 12 edition of Science. Prostate cancer is second to skin cancer as the most common cancer in men. The National Cancer Institute estimates that 238,590 new cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed in 2013, and 29,720 men will die from the disease. ? The study was led by stem-cell expert Paul Frenette, M.D., professor of medicine and of cell biology and director of the Ruth L. and David S. Gottesman Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Research at Einstein. In earlier research, Dr. Frenette and colleagues had discovered that the?sympathetic（交感神经的）?nervous system regulates hematopoeitic stem cell niches -- the sites in the bone marrow where red blood cells are formed. ? Nerves are commonly found around tumors, but their role in the growth and progression of cancer has not been clear. Since there might be similarities between the hematopoeitic stem cell niche and the stem cell niches found in cancer, we thought that sympathetic nerves might also have a role in tumor development, said Dr. Frenette. It turns out that in prostate cancer, not only are sympathetic nerves involved, but so too are?parasympathetic nerves（副交感神经）. ? The bodys autonomic nervous system (governing functions that we dont consciously control, such as heart rate) is divided into two branches. The sympathetic nervous system, or SNS, modulates the bodys fight or flight response by, for example, revving up the heart rate and constricting blood vessels. The parasympathetic nervous system, or PNS, generally acts in opposition to the SNS to keep bodily functions in balance. ? The