The cancer-killing compound, called tiancimycin, was found within a historic collection of soil microbes housed at The Wertheim UF Scripps Institute.

BUFFALO, NY — July 2, 2025 — A new research perspective was published in Aging (Aging-US) Volume 17, Issue 6, on May 29, 2025, titled “Peto’s paradox’s relevance is off the scale.”

Using an inexpensive electrode coated with DNA, MIT researchers designed disposable diagnostics that could be adapted to detect a variety of diseases, including cancer or infectious diseases such as influenza and HIV.

During therapy, some cancer cells evolve to escape elimination. Newer anticancer drugs that can overcome this resistance are necessary. Now, researchers from Japan demonstrate that aromatic benzaldehyde inhibits the growth of therapy-resistant pancreatic cancer. By preventing various signaling proteins and histone modifiers like Ser²⁸-phosphorylated histone H3 (H3S28ph) from binding to 14-3-3ζ protein, benzaldehyde overcomes therapy resistance and blocks plasticity to prevent the spread of cancer. These findings highlight its potential in cancer treatment.

Scientists have identified a subtype of immune cells that help advanced prostate cancer evade the body’s defenses. In mouse models, blocking a protein produced by those cells made tumors more responsive to immunotherapy, pointing to a potential new treatment approach. The study, with Shenglin Mei of the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute among the corresponding authors, is featured on the July cover of Molecular Cancer Research.

Researchers in the College of Design and Engineering (CDE) at the National University of Singapore and the National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS) have developed a hydrogel-based platform that extends the survival of patient-derived tumour tissues in the lab. The platform better replicates the tumour’s natural environment, allowing for more accurate evaluation of cancer drugs - particularly for peritoneal metastases, an advanced stage for abdominal and pelvic cancers. The study, published in Advanced Materials, could pave the way for more personalised and effective treatment strategies.

Amplification-free, highly sensitive, and specific nucleic acid detection is crucial for health monitoring and diagnosis. The type III CRISPR-Cas10 system, which provides viral immunity through CRISPR-associated protein effectors, enables a new amplification-free nucleic acid diagnostic tool. In this study, we develop a CRISPR-graphene field-effect transistors (GFETs) biosensor by combining the type III CRISPR-Cas10 system with GFETs for direct nucleic acid detection. This biosensor exploits the target RNA-activated continuous ssDNA cleavage activity of the dCsm3 CRISPR-Cas10 effector and the high charge density of a hairpin DNA reporter on the GFET channel to achieve label-free, amplification-free, highly sensitive, and specific RNA detection. The CRISPR-GFET biosensor exhibits excellent performance in detecting medium-length RNAs and miRNAs, with detection limits at the aM level and a broad linear range of 10^-15 to 10^-11 M for RNAs and 10^-15 to 10^-9 M for miRNAs. It shows high sensitivity in throat swabs and serum samples, distinguishing between healthy individuals (N = 5) and breast cancer patients (N = 6) without the need for extraction, purification, or amplification. This platform mitigates risks associated with nucleic acid amplification and cross-contamination, making it a versatile and scalable diagnostic tool for molecular diagnostics in human health.

A comprehensive review reveals that blocking natural killer cell checkpoints and employing precision strategies like gene editing and engineered cell therapies could significantly enhance cancer immunotherapy outcomes for solid tumors and blood cancers.