About This Meeting:

Nerves and neural activity are involved in all aspects of cancer progression, from initiation to metastasis. However, neural-cancer interactions are highly understudied aspects of the tumor microenvironment in cancers both in the brain and the body. Most peripheral organs and tissues are innervated by nerves that connect them with the central nervous system, and increasing evidence demonstrates critical neuronal control of diverse aspects of cancer biology. Conversely, there is growing evidence that cancer and cancer treatment modulate neural activity, and that the degree of this modulation influences treatment outcomes. 

This Keystone Symposia meeting on Cancer Neuroscience: Neural Mechanisms as Therapeutic Targets in Cancer will address key questions in the field including delineation of full neural circuits from cancers in the body to the brain and back, integration between the CNS and primary and metastatic brain cancers, critical signals between neurons and cancers, modulation of neural-cancer interactions by cancer treatments, and therapeutic opportunities using neuromodulation of cancer. 

This meeting will bring together cancer researchers, neuroscientists, immunologists, clinicians, physicists, and bioengineers to integrate their understanding of this highly understudied component of the tumor microenvironment. By serving as a bridge between studies focused on neural-cancer interactions in the brain and studies focused on the body, the meeting fosters the cross-disciplinary collaboration essential for advancing the field. 

This Cancer Neuroscience conference provides the missing link in a fast-growing field, serving as a nucleation center that will inspire and nurture a diverse cohort of young investigators who will shape the future of cancer neuroscience research. 

Check out the speaker highlights in the video below: