Does Neuronal Activity Promote Glioma Progression?

Excessive glutamate release by glioma cells induces pharmacologically accessible neuronal hyperexcitation, including epilepsy. Two recent reports by Venkataramani et al. and Venkatesh et al. suggest that neuronal hyperexcitation stimulates bona fide glutamatergic synapses on glioma cells. Ionotropic glutamate receptors activate intercellular calcium signaling networks to orchestrate glioma cell growth and invasion, presumably by facilitating oncogenic signaling cascades and cytoskeletal remodeling.