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©The Author(s) 2025. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Oncol. Oct 24, 2025; 16(10): 108954
Published online Oct 24, 2025. doi: 10.5306/wjco.v16.i10.108954
Published online Oct 24, 2025. doi: 10.5306/wjco.v16.i10.108954
Neuro-tumor interactions: Multi-dimensional mechanisms of neurotransmitter regulation in tumor immune evasion and metabolic reprogramming
Ze-Kai Li, Jia-Lin Liao, Min-Rui Luo, Shu-Jie Fang, Dong-Yan Zhang, Department of Radiation Oncology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, Guangdong Province, China
Wei-Zhen Huang, The Second Department of Oncology, The First Huizhou Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Medical University, Huizhou 516000, Guangdong Province, China
Co-corresponding authors: Wei-Zhen Huang and Dong-Yan Zhang.
Author contributions: Li ZK conceptualized the topic and drafted the original manuscript; Liao JL and Luo MR performed literature review and data collection; Fang SJ contributed to the critical revision of the manuscript; Huang WZ and Zhang DY supervised the work and revised the manuscript for important intellectual content, and they contributed equally to this article as the co-corresponding authors of this manuscript; and all authors have read and approved the final version of the manuscript.
Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 82272719; the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province, No. 2023A1515012724 and No. 2024A1515013249; and the Science and Technology Projects in Guangzhou, No. 2024A04J5205.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Dong-Yan Zhang, Research Fellow, Department of Radiation Oncology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, No. 1838 North Guangzhou Avenue, Guangzhou 510515, Guangdong Province, China. 15013091401@163.com
Received: April 27, 2025
Revised: June 2, 2025
Accepted: September 17, 2025
Published online: October 24, 2025
Processing time: 180 Days and 20.7 Hours
Revised: June 2, 2025
Accepted: September 17, 2025
Published online: October 24, 2025
Processing time: 180 Days and 20.7 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: This article presents a novel perspective on the role of neural signaling in orchestrating tumor progression through the neuro-metabolic-immune axis within the tumor microenvironment. It illustrates that neurotransmitters can directly regulate immune evasion while also mediating metabolic reprogramming, thereby indirectly facilitating immunosuppression. This integrative framework unveils a dynamic bidirectional network wherein neural signals coordinate both metabolic and immune adaptations, offering new therapeutic targets aimed at disrupting this axis to enhance conventional cancer treatments.