Colorectal cancer is one of the most common and deadly cancers worldwide, and treatment decisions for older patients remain highly debated. Now, researchers have found that oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy significantly improves survival only in stage III colorectal cancer patients aged 70 or younger. For patients over 70, the drug offered no survival advantage and led to higher rates of treatment discontinuation due to toxicity. Importantly, stage II patients showed no survival benefit at any age.

In a paper published in MedComm-Oncology, a research team demonstrated the significant biological role of RNA helicase DDX17 in inducing epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma through β-catenin/TCF4 signaling pathway. High expression of DDX17 is closely associated with the invasive phenotype of hepatocellular carcinoma, and targeting this EMT pathway may provide a new therapeutic strategy for HCC metastasis.

A Swedish-led research team at Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital has shown in a new randomized clinical trial that a low dose of the well-known medicine aspirin halves the risk of recurrence after surgery in patients with colon and rectal cancer with a certain type of genetic alteration in the tumor.

Penn Engineers are uncovering how the mechanics of tumors and the tiny messages cells send through extracellular vesicles work together to drive cancer progression, opening new paths for therapies and training the next generation of researchers to think across disciplines.