NLGN3 and glioma: This effect was mediated in part by paracrine growth factor signaling, including brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and a shed form of the synaptic adhesion molecule neuroligin-3 (NLGN3) [49, 50] NLGN3 was found to be secreted in an activity-regulated manner and to stimulate oncogenic PI3K-mTOR signaling in glioma cells [49, 50].