The glioma neuron symbiosis hypothesis—cellular and molecular mechanistic considerations

A recent hypothesis suggests that glioma cells and neurons engage in a symbiotic relationships, where neurons tend to use lactate, produced in abundance by the cancer cells, instead of glucose. Consequently, the glucose conserved by neurons becomes accessible to glioma cells, which have a high demand for it. The present monograph further develops this hypothesis, weighing specific cellular and molecular processes in both cell types that allow for these symbiotic relationships. The potential roles in the postulated symbiosis of the glycolytic pathway, the mitochondrial tricarboxylic acid cycle, and its coupled oxidative phosphorylation, glucose and lactate transporters, the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate, lactate signaling via its receptor, and lactylation, are all considered here. The aim is to provide a wider foundation with greater detail for a better understanding of the proposed symbiosis that could offer several possible experimental avenues to verify its validity.