OKLAHOMA CITY – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted Fast Track Designation to a new drug combination for metastatic colorectal cancer, following encouraging results from a clinical trial led in part by the University of Oklahoma Health Stephenson Cancer Center. The treatment offers potential hope for patients whose tumors lack a key DNA repair protein called ATM.

Obesity and cancer are two major health challenges of our time, yet the link between them remains only partially understood. New research now highlights a molecular chain of events in estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer, revealing how leptin, a hormone produced by fat cells, signals cancer cells to grow. This leads to increased activity of the enzyme stearoyl-CoA desaturase (SCD), which fuels the growth and motility of cancer cells. The findings from a study in The American Journal of Pathology, published by Elsevier, provides insights into the obesity–breast cancer link and identifies potential new therapeutic targets to counter obesity-driven breast cancer progression.

UOsaka and MIT scientists revealed that the motor proteins KIF18A and CENP-E work together to align chromosomes during mitosis. Cancer cells with reduced CENP-E levels are especially sensitive to KIF18A inhibition, and dual inhibition of both proteins leads to efficient cell death. The discovery offers new insights into chromosome mechanics and a potential strategy for targeted cancer therapy.

The University of Cincinnati’s Jiajie Diao, PhD, and colleagues have published new research showing a proof of concept that rearranging the location of lipid droplets within cells can increase the effectiveness of cell starvation, making it a potential cancer treatment. The research was published as the November cover story in the journal Trends in Biotechnology.