The team has unexpectedly discovered that cells from the brain defence system play a role in the sexual maturation process. The link between them is RANK, a protein involved in mammary development.

The research has been carried out in animal models, but it has also found genetic mutations associated with a rare syndrome related to infertility in humans.

A protein complex called PRC2 is linked to breast, prostate, blood, and skin cancers. Researchers discovered that removing a specific region within the complex halts cancers in their tracks. This region, called the SBD, could potentially be targeted by cancer inhibitors.

To provide insight into the role structural variants play in pediatric cancer, scientists assembled and curated the first and largest dataset of genomic structural variation specific to childhood cancers. Analysis of the dataset found that the burden of structural variants in pediatric blood cancer is higher than that of their adult counterparts, providing a new understanding of what drives disease formation in these types of cancer. 

Researchers found that patients who followed an exercise prescription while receiving chemotherapy reported fewer problems with thinking and memory and felt less mentally tired than those who received chemotherapy alone.

Immunotherapy given during and after chemoradiation did not improve survival for study participants with limited-stage, small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) according to the results of an international clinical trial, NRG-LU005, led by NRG Oncology in collaboration with the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology. The results are published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The trial did not meet its primary endpoint as the addition of the immunotherapy agent atezolizumab to chemotherapy and radiation did not significantly improve survival for those with limited-stage SCLC. However, twice-daily radiation therapy was associated with improved survival in this population.

Boron agents termed GluBs, developed by Science Tokyo researchers, overcome a key limitation in cancer therapy by entering tumor cells through a pathway that standard drugs cannot use. The GluBs target ASCT2, a transporter abundant in aggressive cancers such as glioblastoma and breast cancer, rather than the LAT1 route. Results from cell and animal studies show the agents were safe and effective in limiting tumor growth, indicating potential to treat cancers with limited LAT1 expression.

Cancer is caused by faulty genes, but what also shapes a cancer cell’s behaviour is how a gene’s instructions are trimmed and rearranged before they are turned into the proteins that keep a cell alive. A study published today in Nature Communications reveals a new way of measuring that editing process, known as splicing, directly. It is the first time scientists have been able to get a clear view of how tumours systematically rewire their genetic instructions to aid growth and survival, and it may point toward new ways of controlling the disease.