EurekAlert! Cancer Research - News Releases

News Releases

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 2-May-2025 20:09 ET (3-May-2025 00:09 GMT/UTC)

Charting a path toward overcoming glioblastoma resistance to chemotherapy

Institute for Basic Science
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In spite of intensive research, glioblastoma remains one of the most lethal types of brain cancer. Temozolomide (TMZ) is used as the front-line medicine in its treatment. While TMZ effectively penetrates the brain and targets tumors, its success depends on the tumor cells attempting to repair the DNA damage caused by the drug. Unfortunately, glioblastomas often evade treatment by inactivating the various DNA repair pathways, making them resistant to TMZ and limiting its effectiveness. In these drug-resistant cancer cells, DNA becomes mutated but does not lead to cell death.

The researchers at the Center for Genomic Integrity within the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) in Ulsan, South Korea, in conjunction with the bioinformatics team from the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), have uncovered critical insights into the mechanisms behind TMZ resistance. Their work could pave the way for more effective therapies against this devastating cancer.

Journal: Nucleic Acids Research
Funder: Institute for Basic Science

Researchers find new way to 'starve' prostate cancer tumors at the cellular level

Indiana University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

New research has uncovered a novel vulnerability in prostate cancer animal models that starves prostate tumors of critical nutrients and stunts their growth, which could lead to the development of new treatments for the deadly disease.

Journal: Science Signaling

What is metformin’s secret sauce?

Northwestern University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Until now, scientists have been unable to determine how metformin, a Type 2 diabetes medication that lowers blood sugar, works.

A new Northwestern Medicine study has provided direct evidence in mice that it reversibly cuts the cell’s energy supply by interfering with mitochondria to lower glucose levels.

Journal: Science Advances
Funder: NIH/National Institutes of Health, NIH/National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, The Cellular and Molecular Basis of Disease, NRSA Training Program in Signal Transduction and Cancer

Research into new therapies: How the body's natural killer cells could fight leukemia

Goethe University Frankfurt
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Every year, some 13,000 people in Germany are diagnosed with leukemia. Despite intensive chemotherapy, around one in two of them die. Making matters worse is the fact that the therapies currently available have severe side effects and inhibit the formation of new healthy blood cells in particular. One alternative is therapy concepts that harness the immune system’s natural power. It is important to note, however, that tumor cells have mechanisms capable of slowing down the immune cells’ attack. Professor Evelyn Ullrich's team at Universitaetsmedizin Frankfurt has now succeeded in making leukemia-specific immune cells less sensitive to the influence of tumor cells, thereby significantly increasing their effectiveness.

Journal: Nature Communications

MD Anderson Research Highlights for December 18, 2024

University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center’s Research Highlights showcases the latest breakthroughs in cancer care, research and prevention. These advances are made possible through seamless collaboration between MD Anderson’s world-leading clinicians and scientists, bringing discoveries from the lab to the clinic and back.

Ochsner Health Network announces multi-million dollar, record-breaking healthcare savings

Ochsner Health System
Business Announcement

Ochsner Health Network, LLC (OHN), the region’s largest physician-led clinically integrated network, is pleased to report its 2023 – 2024 impact resulting from care delivered to over a half million patients living throughout the Gulf South.

MSK Research Highlights, December 18, 2024

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Peer-Reviewed Publication

New research from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) uncovers clues about how cells control a key DNA repair protein; develops a new method for studying gene amplifications in cancer; sheds new light on tumor suppressor genes; shows MSK-IMPACT^® could be used for HLA genotype screening to predict response to cellular therapies; identifies a possible strategy to overcome immune evasion in ovarian cancer; and finds strong support for telemedicine visits among cancer patients.

Influencers: Their power is real when a person has cancer

University of Rochester Medical Center
Grant and Award Announcement

Investigators study how a person's social networks influence their decisions about cancer care.

Funder: NIH/National Cancer Institute

BU researcher awarded NIH grant to further the understanding of neuroblastoma

Boston University School of Medicine
Grant and Award Announcement

Hui Feng, MD, PhD, associate professor of pharmacology, physiology & biophysics and medicine at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, has received an RO1 grant from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. The five-year, $3.1M award will support the project, “Mechanisms of Immunosuppression in MYCN-driven Neuroblastoma.” Feng will team with Derin Keskin, PhD, from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute on this study.

Breast cancer battle: Precision subtyping leads to personalized treatment

China Anti-Cancer Association
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In a triumph for precision medicine, a pioneering study has unlocked the potential to revolutionize breast cancer treatment.

Journal: Cancer Biology & Medicine