Cancer

Mouse studies suggest inhibiting NRP1 in microglia and peripheral macrophages could help treat glioma. In a bone marrow-ablated mouse model of glioma, bone marrow transplants engineered to produce NRP1-knockout macrophages decreased tumor volume and the density of tumor vasculature compared with transplant of unmodified bone marrow. In the models receiving normal bone marrow transplants, microglia-specific knockout of NRP1 decreased tumor volume and the density of tumor vasculature and increased cytotoxic T lymphocyte tumor infiltration compared with normal NRP1 expression. Next steps could include developing and testing macrophage- and microglia-specific NRP1 inhibitors in glioma models...