Research Pancreatic Cancer: Interactions between Neurons and Tumor

15 April 2025

In pancreas tumors the nerves are extremely well ramified and in contact with most of the tumor cells. To examine the molecular signature of the nerve cells in both healthy tissue and pancreatic cancer, the researchers around Prof. Dr Andreas Trumpp used a method newly developed in mice. They were able to determine the type of neurons that innervate the tumor and also show that the tumor changed their molecular signature. In their study published in the journal “Nature”, the researchers demonstrate how the pancreatic tumor targets and reprograms peripheral nerves for its own purposes. The neurons “manipulated” by the tumor then promote tumor growth and even continue to do so after the primary tumor has been removed.

The molecular studies on the interaction between neurons and tumors were complemented by three-dimensional reconstructions of the pancreatic nervous system. First author Dr Vera Thiel from HI-STEM collaborated on this with Dr Nicolas Dross from the Nikon Imaging Center at Heidelberg University. To visualize the whole tissue of the pancreas, the peripheral nervous system was stained with specific fluorescent dyes. The resulting fluorescence glow of the neurons was then imaged using light-sheet fluorescence microscopy, in order to combine these individual images into a three-dimensional representation of the volume. This way, the dense network of neuronal structures that foster tumor growth could be reconstructed and compared to the nerves in healthy tissue.

The Nikon Imaging Center is a central institution for light microscopy, located at the BioQuant Center of Heidelberg University. At the center, a team of postdoctoral researchers headed by Dr Ulrike Engel supports scientists working in the life sciences and in biomedical research.