Anti-cancer Neurons

Melanomas originate in the pigment-producing cells of the skin and are the deadliest type of skin cancer. As they grow, they often incorporate peripheral nerve cells (like the ones coloured green in this melanoma pictured) and the presence of neurons has been linked to the tumour’s metastatic potential – their ability to spread around the body. However, new research indicates this depends on the type of neuron. While pain neurons seem to have pro-cancer effects, sympathetic neurons, which control things like blood flow to the skin, have an anti-tumour effect. Indeed, local depletion of pain neurons inhibited melanoma growth in model mice, but depletion of sympathetic neurons accelerated it. This effect was found to be mediated by the hormone noradrenaline, released from the nerves, which directed local immune cells to keep the tumours in check. Harnessing this sympathetic neuron-driven process could thus lead to novel anti-tumour treatments.

Written by Ruth Williams

Ruth Williams

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Ruth is a freelance science journalist based in the US. She's a regular correspondent for The Scientist, and her work has appeared in The Lancet, Nature, Scientific American Mind, BBC Focus and elsewhere. Twitter @rooph

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• Image from work by Tingting Liu and colleagues
• Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA
• Image originally published with no restrictions – hence published here with as Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
• Research published in Neuron, May 2026