Team members
Neural plasticity in cancer development
We aim to understand how the nervous system innervates cancerous tumours in order to regulate their development and progression.
The functioning of the nervous system is based on highly sophisticated neural networks that are formed during fetal life and childhood. During development, neurons emit long cables, called axons, to reach their target cells and establish synaptic contacts. This process is controlled by groups of specialized cells that express guidance signals and direct axons along specific trajectories. The nerve projections thus established are maintained throughout adult life. Far from being static, they retain a degree of plasticity that allows them to reshape themselves according to our experiences or in response to diseases such as cancer. Indeed, malignant tumors are able to stimulate the regrowth of mature axons and thus promote their own innervation. The importance of this phenomenon on the evolution of the disease is only beginning to be understood: the nervous system has a protective or, on the contrary, accelerating effect on tumor development, which depends on both the type of cancer and the biochemical properties of the infiltrated axons. These results raise fundamental questions that we seek to answer:
How do axonal projections remodel as a tumor develops?
How does the combination of chemical and mechanical signals generated by the tumor control axonal growth and plasticity?
How do neurons interact with cells in the tumor microenvironment and contribute to disease progression?
Publications
Neuronal miR-17-5p contributes to interhemispheric cortical connectivity defects induced by prenatal alcohol exposure.
Navigation rules for vessels and neurons: cooperative signaling between VEGF and neural guidance cues.
Integration of repulsive guidance cues generates avascular zones that shape mammalian blood vessels.
News
Schwann cells undergo adaptive reprogramming to promote successful neuronal remodeling in pancreatic cancer.
Alcohol and brain development
The Mann team identifies the microRNA-17-5p as responsible for alcohol-related brain connectivity defects.
Several awards for IBDM members !
NeuroStories 2022: Emprise de tête
Mike Altounian presented his work on the effects of alcohol on neural circuit development at Neurostories 2022.
Nervous But Sympathetic !
In this study, the Mann team showed that pancreatic cancer development promotes the sprouting and growth of sympathetic axons.
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