{
  "id": 800680,
  "title": "Brain cancer cells exploit normal nerve signaling to multiply and invade, new study finds",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/13/brain-cancer-cells-exploit-normal-nerve-signaling-to-multiply-and",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-08-13T19:20:02.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Medical Xpress",
    "slug": "medical-xpress",
    "url": "https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-brain-cancer-cells-exploit-nerve.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "New research published in Nature Neuroscience reveals that gliomas, malignant brain tumors originating from glial cells, exploit normal nerve signaling to multiply and invade healthy brain tissue. The key protein at play is neuroligin-3 (NLGN3), which is released by active nerve cells and hijacked by glioma cells to fuel their own growth. To investigate NLGN3's role, researchers isolated glioma cell membranes and discovered that NLGN3 binds directly to CSPG4 (also known as NG2), a receptor protein found on both glioma cells and healthy oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs). This binding physically stretches the cell membrane, activating a biochemical pathway that keeps healthy OPCs in an immature, stem-like state while promoting the growth of glioma cells. This discovery sheds light on how gliomas hijack healthy brain cell signaling to grow and spread, making gliomas among the most devastating primary brain tumors. The findings open up the possibility of selectively blocking this pathway to slow tumor growth without harming normal brain repair processes.",
  "summary": "Gliomas are malignant brain tumors that originate from glial cells, which do not produce electrical impulses like neurons but instead support neurons by maintaining their structure and function. They are the most common form of brain cancer in adults and hijack normal neuronal signaling, especially the protein neuroligin-3 (NLGN3), released by active nerve cells, to fuel their own growth and…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}