GeneQuery RNA Profile of Trigeminal Ganglia from Tumor Burden and Tumor Naïve Mice

Cancer patients often experience changes in mental health, prompting an exploration into whether nerves infiltrating tumors contribute to these alterations by impacting brain functions. Using a mouse model for head and neck cancer and neuronal tracing we show that tumor-infiltrating nerves connect to distinct brain areas. The activation of this neuronal circuitry altered behaviors (decreased nest-building, increased latency to eat a cookie, and reduced wheel running). Tumor-infiltrating nociceptor neurons exhibited heightened calcium activity and brain regions receiving these neural projections showed elevated Fos as well as increased calcium responses compared to non-tumor-bearing counterparts. A total of 8 PCR plates were utilized in this study. Four of the plates were four biological replicates from the tumor burden experimental group. The other four plates were four biological replicates for the non-tumor burden controls. One trigeminal ganglia from an individual mouse was used to isolate RNA for each plate that was run.