eCancer

According to the Cleveland Clinic, a quarter of cancer deaths can be attributed to one source: cachexia. Cachexia is a syndrome that accompanies underlying chronic illness and causes unwanted muscle and fat loss, reducing quality of life and sometimes even limiting treatment options. A new study led by Thales Papagiannakopoulos, PhD, an incoming Salk professor, points to a potential new target for preventing cachexia.

Cancer immunotherapy drugs known as immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) can be miracle drugs for cancer patients, curing some and turning deadly disease into a manageable chronic condition in others. But these drugs work for only a subset of patients, with few indications why — a knowledge gap that has detrimental effects on patient prognosis, clinical trial recruitment, and research that could lead to new therapies.

Researchers have spent decades—and billions of dollars—sequencing animal and crop genomes, but fungi have historically been the forgotten middle child of genomics, only noticed when they’re ruining bread or colonising toes. “This neglect is kind of remarkable considering how fungi have shaped modern medicine,” says chemical and biomolecular engineer Xue “Sherry” Gao.

Results of the ongoing eNRGy trial, a single-arm, multicenter, global phase 2 clinical trial evaluating zenocutuzumab in solid tumours positive for Neuregulin 1 (NRG1) gene fusions, reported manageable side effects and clinically meaningful efficacy – including a near doubling of progression-free survival compared to expectations with standard of care – in previously treated patients with advanced NRG1-positive cholangiocarcinoma.

A new study from researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Centre has uncovered how one of the most common genetic alterations in glioma rewires the cancer cell genome to fuel tumour progression, suggesting a potential new therapeutic strategy for patients with ATRX-mutant gliomas.

A new form of CAR T cell therapy has been designed to find and destroy the cancer-driving stem cells responsible for a group of blood cancers known as myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs), while leaving healthy blood cells unharmed, in new research led by UCL and University of Oxford researchers. MPNs are chronic blood cancers that begin when a mutation arises in the DNA of a blood stem cell.

In cancer research, one person’s junk is increasingly becoming another person’s treasure. Scientists have now uncovered new evidence showing how recently evolved “junk DNA” genetic elements can become integrated into ancient cellular pathways that regulate cancer. These findings may provide fresh insights into how evolutionary forces shape disease and reveal potential new targets for cancer research.

Why do some liver cancer patients respond well to immunotherapy while others do not? A growing body of evidence points to the gut microbiome as a critical, yet often overlooked, player. This comprehensive review synthesises current advances linking gut bacteria to immunotherapy outcomes in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the most common type of primary liver cancer.

Few areas of the body face more daily stress and potential damage than the stomach, which must manage everything we swallow. Along with this constant strain, the stomach also produces acid that can damage its own lining and increase the risk of ulcers. To keep up, the stomach lining has remarkably high regenerative rates, continuously replacing cells and repairing damage as it occurs.

Researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Centre demonstrated that an artificial intelligence (AI)-based analysis of tumour biopsies can predict responses to immunotherapy in a study of patients with rare cancers, published in the Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer.