In an analysis of data on adolescents and young adults with breast cancer, lower income and younger age were linked with delays in care. The analysis published by Wiley online in CANCER, also found that women who experienced delays in cancer diagnoses tended to have later stages of disease.

A global survey by the IFCC found that most labs testing children for cardiac troponin, a protein that signals heart muscle damage, rely on adult reference ranges. Among labs offering in-house testing, 65.5% lacked child-specific intervals, and the few that had them used inconsistent cutoffs with no agreed method for deriving them. Because children’s troponin tests are used for varied conditions like Kawasaki disease, heart infections, and cancer-treatment damage, the researchers argue that one generic pediatric range isn’t enough and condition-specific benchmarks are needed. The study’s authors call for coordinated global action to develop pediatric reference intervals and clearer clinical guidance.

A new study combining mouse experiments and human datasets explores how biological sex and aging shape cancer immunity, with implications for immunotherapy responses.

A comprehensive review published in iMetaMed reveals that cysteine peptidases, particularly cathepsins B, S, L, and X, serve as critical regulators of antigen-presenting cell function and antitumor immunity. The study systematically elucidates how these enzymes govern antigen processing, MHC loading, cross-presentation, and immune signaling, while their dysregulation drives tumor immune evasion through excessive antigen degradation and checkpoint modulation. The authors propose that targeted modulation of cysteine peptidase activity represents a promising strategy to overcome immunotherapy resistance.

Researchers have mapped 895,475 individual cells to uncover shared features of bone metastases across 10 cancer types. The study reveals cancer growth programs alongside widespread changes in immune and supporting cells. Laboratory experiments highlight CXCL12–CXCR4 signaling as a potential link between immune-cell retention in surrounding tissue and cancer-cell migration, providing a basis for further therapeutic research.

On July 25, 2026, Cui Baiping, Li Mingyu, Zhou Pingzhu, Cheow Lihfeng, Ma Hailong, Liu Dongdong published an article online in iMetaMed, titled "Minimally Invasive Sampling for Molecular Profiling of Lymph Nodes Using a Modified Acupuncture Needle." This study introduces a minimally invasive lymphatic sampling platform capable of directly extracting DNA from lymph nodes as an alternative to traditional tissue sampling. The extracted DNA can be utilized for downstream molecular profiling, offering a complementary tool to existing histopathological evaluations.

Tumorigenesis involves transcriptomic alterations at both gene and isoform levels. While short-read RNA-seq cann’t fully resolve isoform-level changes, long-read RNA sequencing (lrRNA-seq) overcomes this limitation. In this study, we analyzed 144 paired tumor-normal transcriptomes across ten organs using lrRNA-seq. Our pan-cancer analysis revealed convergent gene expression associated with oncogenic dedifferentiation, contrasting with variable, organ-specific isoform-level alterations. Isoform-level changes, including aberrant fusion transcripts and disrupted isoform composition, were widespread and partially linked to altered splicing factor expression. Notably, many genes showed significant isoform alterations without corresponding gene expression differences. Integrating gene and isoform-level data, we developed a pan-cancer scoring framework to identify candidate prognostic correlates and potential therapeutic targets for further validation. This framework uncovered multiple underappreciated pan-cancer susceptibility genes, such as IBSP and FANCL, whose dysregulation occurs predominantly at the isoform level. Our findings advance understanding of tumor transcriptomics and provide a resource for future biomarker and therapeutic development.