Key findings:

--Energy-generating waves on the membranes of cancer cells may help to fuel disease progression.

--Disrupting the process could slow or halt cancer metastasis. 

--Higher levels of the enzymatic waves appear linked to more severe forms of cancer, indicating that measuring them could help scientists stage cancers.

City of Hope^® Research Spotlight offers a glimpse at groundbreaking scientific and clinical discoveries advancing lifesaving cures for patients with cancer, diabetes and other chronic, life-threatening diseases. This roundup highlights new insights into the cellular processes that lead to midlife weight gain, a promising new therapeutic target for acute myeloid leukemia and a revealing study that sheds light on the challenges women face in male-dominated workplaces.

A fundamental discovery by University of Missouri scientists could help solve one of the most frustrating challenges in treating lung cancer: Why do some patients initially respond to drug treatment, only for it to stop working 18 months later?

The team, led by Dhananjay Suresh, Anandhi Upendran and Raghuraman Kannan at Mizzou’s School of Medicine, identified a hidden molecular “seesaw” involving two proteins inside cancer cells — AXL and FN14. When investigators try to block one protein to stop the cancer, the other one takes over, helping the tumor survive. To fix this, the team developed a new solution: a gelatin-based nanoparticle that can shut down both proteins at the same time.