There is a recent announcement by The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2026 International Cancer Neuroscience Symposium, stating that, “Date & Location: Wednesday, February 18, 2026, 8:15 AM – Friday, February 20, 2026, 7:00 PM, TMC3 Collaborative Building.”
“Target Audience: Specialties – Addiction Psychiatry, Brain Injury Medicine, Gynecologic Oncology, Hospice and Palliative Medicine, Medical Oncology, Neurological Surgery, Neurology, Neuropathology, Neuroradiology, Pain Medicine, Pathology, Pediatric Neurology, Radiation Oncology, Surgery Professions – Nurse – APRN, Nurse – RN, Other, Physician (MD or DO), Physician Associate, Psychologist, Radiation Therapist, Student or Trainee.”
Cancer Neuroscience
There is a feature in The Transmitter, Making cancer nervous, stating that: “Nerve cells in the brain and throughout the body can turbocharge tumor growth — a finding that not only expands conventional ideas about the nervous system but points to novel therapeutic targets for a range of malignancies. Tumors are more electrically active than normal tissues.”
“Most of the evidence, and really the center of the field, is around the idea that neurons and nerves — via a variety of mechanisms that researchers are still teasing apart — seem to regulate almost everything about cancer, from tumor initiation in many cases to tumor growth, tumor invasion and metastasis, probably resistance to therapy, and evolution of the disease. He decided to look into perineural invasion, or the tendency for cancer cells to cluster around local nerve fibers. He also knew that tumors that exhibit perineural invasion tend to be more deadly. The cancer cells use the nerves as highways to exit a primary tumor site and metastasize.”
Findings in cancer neuroscience say that nerve cells can contribute to tumor growth.
If “tumors are more electrically active than other tissues, if neurons regulate cancer, and if cancer cells can use nerves as highways to metastasize”, what should be understood about neurons and their electrical and chemical signals [conceptually] as a means to fight and defeat cancers?
The first assumption is that everything that neurons do, for functions of human life and experiences are based on electrical and chemical signals, in sets, in clusters of neurons.
This means that what functions are [and do] are configurations, formations, or assemblies of electrical and chemical signals in sets, conceptually.
For neurons, electrical and chemical signals are not for direct survival but for the functions of human life and experiences. So, neurons actually get used, as the infrastructure for signals, to construct, adjust, and measure functions [memory, feelings, emotions, and regulations of internal signals].
The memory of a chair, or table, is a specific configuration of electrical and chemical signals in a set. The regulation of an aspect of circulation is a specific configuration of electrical and chemical signals in a set.
What is called neuroplasticity, or changes in the brain with function, can be described as a build of configurations of signals, particularly by electrical and chemical signals, in sets.
Now, if there are permutations for configurations of electrical and chemical signals in sets, towards cancer-related functions, how can they inform how to disrupt the configurations of the bioelectric activity of tumors?
Also, how can the regulation of cancers [say maladaptive neuroplasticity] by electrical and chemical signals, in sets, be discontinued or mitigated, towards starving tumors? When cancers use nerves as highways to metastasize, how can there be anti-metastatic configurations of electrical and chemical signals, in sets, against these [including with signaling molecules or growth signals]?
Aside from configurations, there are attributes, conceptually, of electrical and chemical signals, in sets. These attributes can be used to prospect anti-cancer targets, in ways to ensure that they lose their growth properties.
The first thing is to postulate deeply on electrical and chemical signals, in sets, in clusters of neurons, then look at ways to approach and disrupt changes, using a number of available techniques, as well as develop new ones.
Principally, advancing cancer neuroscience would mean an exploration of the core of how electrical and chemical configurators shape functions and their extents across the nervous system. Then develop maps on what parts to sabotage, as well as block thresholds against cancer growth.
This is a goal for 2026 in cancer neuroscience, to look beyond just neurons, towards what would matter [electrical and chemical configurators] even as some of their attributes may apply against tumor bioelectricity, tumor-neural crosstalk, and all aggressive cancers.
There is a recent report in USA Today, What cancer did Tatiana Schlossberg have? Acute myeloid leukemia, explained, stating that:
“Acute myeloid leukemia, also called AML, is a rare cancer of the blood and bone marrow. While the exact trigger of the disease isn’t known, AML is caused by changes to our genes. These could be inherited or ones that show up during your lifetime for a variety of reasons. Shifts in our DNA code alter the production of blood cells and platelets in our bone marrow, the soft tissue inside our bones.”
“When our DNA script changes, our bone marrow produces abnormal myeloid cells called myeloid blasts, which multiply uncontrollably and don’t die the way normal cells would after doing their specific jobs, according to the Cleveland Clinic. As the unhealthy cells build up, they enter the bloodstream and spread through other parts of the body, preventing our system from healthy functioning.”
“AML presents with symptoms that could feel like a cold or flu. But this illness is called “acute” because of how quickly it worsens, according to the Mayo Clinic. Because of the aggressive nature of the disease, more noticeable symptoms like dizziness, easy or frequent bleeding or bruising, fatigue, and fever, among other symptoms, quickly develop and impact normal body functions.”
“AML is typically treated with chemotherapy in addition to bone marrow transplant using cells from related or unrelated donors to bring blood counts back to regular levels. But infusing stem cells into bone marrow risks serious complications such as infection and a long recovery, while success rates largely vary depending on someone’s health.”
This article was written for WHN by David Stephen, who currently does research in conceptual brain science with a focus on the electrical and chemical signals for how they mechanize the human mind, with implications for mental health, disorders, neurotechnology, consciousness, learning, artificial intelligence, and nurture. He was a visiting scholar in medical entomology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL. He did computer vision research at Rovira i Virgili University, Tarragona.
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