Nerves May Fuel Pancreatic Cancer Growth, OHSU Study Finds

Researchers discover sympathetic nerves that play a role in the body's stress response can support pancreatic tumor growth.

Published on Mar. 4, 2026

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New research from Oregon Health & Science University has found that certain nerves involved in the body's "fight or flight" stress response can support pancreatic tumor growth. The study, published in JCI Insight, shows that these sympathetic nerves grow directly into pancreatic tumors and communicate with cancer cells and nearby support cells, influencing the tumor's behavior in ways that help pancreatic cancer grow.

Why it matters

The findings highlight the important role the nervous system can play in cancer development, an area that has often been overlooked. Understanding these nerve-cancer connections could open new paths to treating and preventing pancreatic cancer, a deadly disease that needs more treatment options.

The details

The research team, led by first author Ariana Sattler, Ph.D., developed new methods to study the role of nerves in pancreatic cancer. They found that sympathetic-associated genes are linked to poor survival in pancreatic cancer patients, and removing these nerves from the pancreas resulted in smaller tumors - but only in female mice, suggesting sex hormones may influence the nerve-cancer connection.

  • The study was published on March 4, 2026 in the journal JCI Insight.

The players

Ariana Sattler

The study's first author, who completed this work as a doctoral candidate in the OHSU Graduate Program in Biomedical Sciences.

Ece Eksi

The study's senior author, an assistant professor in the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute's Cancer Early Detection Advanced Research Center.

OHSU

Oregon Health & Science University, where the research was conducted.

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What they’re saying

“We were interested in gaining new insights into how sympathetic nerves interact with all of the other cells within that pancreatic cancer ecosystem, and how these interactions influence pancreatic cancer.”

— Ariana Sattler, Ph.D., first author

“The sex-specific tumor phenotype that we observed was very unexpected.”

— Ece Eksi, Ph.D., assistant professor and senior author

What’s next

Eksi's lab is now continuing several projects to explore further differences in the tumor microenvironment in the absence of sympathetic nerves and how sex hormones may influence this nerve-cancer connection.

The takeaway

This study highlights the growing field of cancer neuroscience and the idea that tumors do not grow alone, but interact with and are supported by various body systems, including the nervous system. Understanding these connections could open new paths to treating and preventing pancreatic cancer.