The ASCERTAIN V clinical trial demonstrated that an all-oral drug combination for older patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is an effective alternative to the current standard, which requires repeated hospital or office visits for intravenous treatment. In the international phase 1/phase 2 trial led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine, NewYork-Presbyterian, Yale University and MD Anderson Cancer Center, patients took a regimen of two pills, decitabine-cedazuridine and venetoclax, with strong response rates and survival outcomes.  

Published today in Nature, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and UPMC Hillman Cancer Center report a previously unrecognized change in how the cell’s genetic material is packaged into structures called chromosomes, that helps explain how some aggressive cancers sustain unlimited growth.

A research team has identified TATA box-binding protein-associated factor 1 (TAF1) as a molecular switch that helps determine whether cancer cells resist or undergo ferroptosis, a regulated form of cell death driven by lipid peroxide buildup. 

Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have identified a previously hidden druggable site in a cancer-related protein that could open the door toward the development of a new generation of more precise cancer drugs. The finding also reveals important limitations in today’s artificial intelligence tools for drug discovery. The study, published in the June 2 online issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society [10.1021/jacs.6c05178], focused on PKMYT1, a type of protein known as a kinase that helps control how cells grow and divide. Because this process can go wrong in cancer, PKMYT1 has emerged as a promising target for new cancer drugs.