Making a commitment: neurons refuse cancer’s advances

• Published in: Nature neuroscience Vol. 22; no. 4; pp. 507 - 508
• Main Author: Dirks, Peter B.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Nature Publishing Group US 01-04-2019; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 631/136/142; 631/378/1689; 631/67/1922; 64/60; Adult; Animal Genetics and Genomics; Behavioral Sciences; Biological Techniques; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Brain; Brain cancer; Brain tumors; Cancer; Care and treatment; Cells (Biology); Children's hospitals; Genetic Predisposition to Disease; Genetic transformation; Glioblastoma; Glioblastomas; Gliomas; Health aspects; Humans; Molecular genetics; Mutation; Neoplasms; Nervous system; Neural stem cells; Neurobiology; Neurons; Neurosciences; Neurosurgery; News & Views; news-and-views; Sick children; Stem cells; Surgery; Tumors
• ISSN: 1097-6256; 1546-1726
• DOI: 10.1038/s41593-019-0373-8

The cell of origin for malignant brain tumors remains uncertain, but de-differentiation from mature cells in the CNS has always been considered a strong possibility. In this issue of
Nature Neuroscience
, Alcantara Llaguno and colleagues report that differentiated neurons resist transformation by glioblastoma-associated mutations, pointing to neural stem cells or immature progenitors as the most likely cells of origin for these tumors, rather than cells of a relatively mature neuronal lineage.