The Vagus Nerve: From Organization to Function

Rui Chang explains how specialised vagal sensory neurons relay information from internal organs to the brain and how the brain signals back to modulate organ function and immune responses. Drawing on recent lung-cancer research in mice, he shows how a nerve pathway between a lung tumour and the brain, acting through vagal and sympathetic signalling, suppresses antitumour immunity, and how disrupting it strengthened immune responses and slowed tumour growth, pointing to new ways the nervous system shapes cancer progression.