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.

POSTECH · University of Oxford · Northwestern University, highlighting research trends in photonic nanomaterials and smart healthcare.

An enigmatic type of circulating tumor cell called a dual-positive (DP) cell is associated with shorter survival time in patients with advanced breast cancer, according to a study led by investigators at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian. The findings highlight the potential importance of these under-studied cells in breast cancer progression.

Lipid nanoparticles, or LNPs, are best known as the delivery vehicle for the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines received by billions of people. But they are now at the center of a much larger medical revolution, as researchers race to use them to ferry therapeutic mRNA into cells for cancer therapies and treatments for inflammatory diseases, as well as delivering CRISPR constructs that can correct disease-causing gene mutations. A stubborn problem has slowed progress on all of these fronts: for LNPs to work therapeutically, they must transfer their cargo into cells by fusing with cell membranes, and they execute this crucial step far more poorly in the human body than in laboratory dishes. Now, a new study by a team of Biohub scientists has discovered a surprisingly simple fix. The researchers found that injecting three common amino acids alongside LNPs can boost mRNA delivery up to 20-fold and lift CRISPR gene editing efficiency from roughly 25 percent to nearly 90 percent in a single dose.