Di YZ, Han BS, Di JM, Liu WY, Tang Q. Role of the brain-gut axis in gastrointestinal cancer. World J Clin Cases 2019; 7(13): 1554-1570 [PMID: 31367615 DOI: 10.12998/wjcc.v7.i13.1554]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Qiang Tang, PhD, Chief Doctor, Doctor, Department of General Surgery, Shiyan Taihe Hospital, Hubei University of Medicine, Shiyan 442000, Hubei Province, China. tang_8q@126.com
Research Domain of This Article
Medicine, Research & Experimental
Article-Type of This Article
Review
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Yang-Zi Di, Jun-Mao Di, Wei-Yan Liu, Qiang Tang, Department of General Surgery, Shiyan Taihe Hospital, Hubei University of Medicine, Shiyan 442000, Hubei Province, China
Bo-Sheng Han, Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 443000, Hubei Province, China
Author contributions: Di YZ and Han BS contributed equally to this work; all authors contributed to this paper with regard to the conception and design of the study, literature review and analysis, manuscript drafting, critical revision, and editing, and approval of the final version.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No potential conflicts of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Qiang Tang, PhD, Chief Doctor, Doctor, Department of General Surgery, Shiyan Taihe Hospital, Hubei University of Medicine, Shiyan 442000, Hubei Province, China. tang_8q@126.com
Telephone: +86+15171363579
Received: January 7, 2019 Peer-review started: January 7, 2019 First decision: February 13, 2019 Revised: April 4, 2019 Accepted: May 2, 2019 Article in press: May 2, 2019 Published online: July 6, 2019 Processing time: 180 Days and 23.2 Hours
Core Tip
Core tip: Although studies have revealed the role of the brain-gut axis in cancer, the bidirectional signal transmission of the brain-gut axis remains unclear. This review summarizes current findings concerning the relationship between the brain-gut axis and gastrointestinal (GI) cancer and focuses on the significant role of the brain-gut axis in tumorigenesis and cancer progression, including tumor proliferation, invasion, apoptosis, autophagy, and metastasis. The central nervous, sympathetic, and parasympathetic nervous systems, neurotransmitters, and neuropeptides may regulate the malignant tumor phenotype in GI cancers. An insight into these mechanisms may lead to the discovery of potential prognostic markers and new targets for GI cancer therapy.