EurekAlert! Cancer Research - News Releases

News Releases

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 25-Dec-2025 18:11 ET (25-Dec-2025 23:11 GMT/UTC)

Not all ALK fusions act the same: Variants influence treatment success in lung cancer

German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ)
Peer-Reviewed Publication

About five percent of lung adenocarcinomas, one of the most common forms of lung cancer, are driven by a faulty fusion of two genes, EML4 and ALK. This fusion results in different variants, and until now, clinicians have treated all patients with these fusions the same way. However, new research led by scientists from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and Stanford University shows that not all fusion variants behave alike. The team discovered that EML4-ALK variant V3 drives more aggressive tumors than the V1 variant and responds less effectively to targeted drugs. The findings, may pave the way for more personalized therapies.

Journal: Cancer Discovery

Molecular breast imaging may benefit women with dense breasts

Radiological Society of North America
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Screening women with dense breasts with both molecular breast imaging and digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) increased overall invasive cancer detection while modestly increasing the recall rate compared with screening only with DBT, according to a new study.

Journal: Radiology

Fish oil supplements may not work for certain cancer patients

Michigan Medicine - University of Michigan
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In a study, a team of researchers from the University of Michigan and University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have shown that the gene 15-lipoxygenase-1, or ALOX15, is essential for helping EPA and DHA suppress colorectal cancer.

Journal: Cellular and Molecular Gastroenterology and Hepatology
Funder: NIH/National Cancer Institute, Rogel Cancer Center, Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas

NBL1: A key driver of ovarian cancer metastasis

Compuscript Ltd
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Ovarian cancer (OC), one of the three most common gynecological malignancies, is characterized by low early detection rates and poor prognosis. Patients with OC face a high risk of developing transcoelomic metastasis—the spread of cancer cells within the abdominal cavity—during the early stages of the disease, a process strongly linked to poor survival outcomes. However, the underlying mechanisms of how OC cells spread from the primary tumor to distant sites have remained elusive.

Journal: Genes & Diseases

Combining Medicare wellness visits with problem-based visits reduces no-show rates and closes screening gaps

American Academy of Family Physicians
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A recurrent barrier to Medicare annual wellness visits, which provide preventative medicine guidance for older and disabled patients, occurs when patients introduce medical concerns to physicians during these preventative visits. In this study, researchers scheduled combined visits in a single, longer slot with patients’ regularly seen clinicians and used allowed billing rules so both visits could count to see if they could increase the percentage of annual wellness visits completed and the quality measures captured.

Journal: The Annals of Family Medicine

New PET tracer enables same-day imaging of triple-negative breast and urothelial cancers

Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A promising new PET tracer can visualize a protein that is commonly overexpressed in triple-negative breast and urothelial bladder cancers within four hours, according to new research published in the September issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine. This same-day imaging approach has the potential to save valuable time in guiding treatment decisions and reduce unnecessary exposure to ineffective therapies.

Journal: Journal of Nuclear Medicine

Urologic oncologist Dr. Scott Eggener named chair of urology at UCLA Health

University of California - Los Angeles Health Sciences
Business Announcement

UCLA Health has appointed Scott Eggener, MD, as the chair of the department of urology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and executive medical director for urology for the UCLA Health system.

Severe obesity associated with reduced prevalence of recommended cancer screenings

Pennington Biomedical Research Center
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In a recent cross-sectional study, researchers from Pennington Biomedical Research Center found that severe obesity is associated with a lower rate of cancer screenings. In their paper published in JAMA Network Open, “Obesity Severity and Cancer Screening in US Adults,” the researchers analyzed de-identified data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System to reach these findings.

Journal: JAMA Network Open

Lipids drive activation of the cellular degradation system LC3-associated phagocytosis

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
Peer-Reviewed Publication

St. Jude scientists have uncovered the previously unknown lipid-regulated mechanism that initiates LC3-associated phagocytosis (LAP), a critical process in innate immunity and anticancer responses. The study reveals that enrichment of the lipid phosphatidylserine in the phagosome membrane is essential for recruiting the complex that drives the enzymatic cascade initiating LAP.

Journal: Nature Cell Biology
Funder: National Institutes of Health

Mammograms may benefit women well into their 80s, UCLA study finds

University of California - Los Angeles Health Sciences
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The study, published in the Annals of Surgical Oncology, found that women in their 80s who get regular mammograms are more likely to have breast cancer detected early, need less aggressive treatment and live longer.

Journal: Annals of Surgical Oncology