Remarks on Selected Morphological Aspects of Cancer Neuroscience: A Microscopic Photo Review

Abstract

Background: This short review and pictorial essay presents a morphological insight into cancer neuroscience, which is a complex and dynamic area of the pathobiology of tumors. Methods: We discuss the different methods and issues connected with structural research on tumor innervation, interactions between neoplastic cells and the nervous system, and dysregulated neural influence on cancer phenotypes. Results: Perineural invasion (PNI), the most-visible cancer–nerve relation, is briefly presented, focusing on its pathophysiology and structural diversity as well as its clinical significance. The morphological approach to cancer neurobiology further includes the analysis of neural density/axonogenesis, neural network topographic distribution, and composition of fiber types and size. Next, the diverse range of neurotransmitters and neuropeptides and the neuroendocrine differentiation of cancer cells are reviewed. Another morphological area of cancer neuroscience is spatial or quantitative neural-related marker expression analysis through different detection, description, and visualization methods, also on experimental animal or cellular models. Conclusions: Morphological studies with systematic methodologies provide a necessary insight into the structure and function of the multifaceted tumor neural microenvironment and in context of possible new therapeutic neural-based oncological solutions.

Keywords

• cancer neuroscience
• perineural invasion
• nerve density
• neurotransmitters
• nerve pathology
• neural factors