Researchers at VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center and the VCU Institute of Molecular Medicine (VIMM) were recently awarded a $1.8 million, 3-year grant from the United States Department of Defense (DoD) to study the implications of using a modified enhanced therapeutic version of melanoma differentiation associated gene-7/Interleukin-24, IL-24 ‘Superkine’ (IL-24S) delivered by immune (natural killer) cells to fight advanced prostate cancer.

This DoD Grant will allow the investigative teams of Drs. Paul B. Fisher and Swadesh K. Das to take the next step in IL-24S research, which has already shown remarkable efficacy when delivered by a therapeutic adenovirus against brain (glioblastoma) cancers, by delivery through enhanced engineered natural killer (NK) cells. IL-24S is a genetically engineered version of IL-24 that targets and kills cancer cells while sparing normal ones.

A new study led by MUSC Hollings Cancer Center researchers Aaron Hobbs, Ph.D., and Rachel Burge, Ph.D., sheds light on why pancreatic tumors with the KRAS G12R mutation behave less aggressively than those with more common KRAS mutations. Unlike typical KRAS-driven tumors, those fueled by G12R fail to activate key growth pathways in the same way and send weaker signals to the cell nucleus, slowing tumor growth. These tumors also create a gentler microenvironment, with less collagen and reduced cell movement, making them more responsive to treatment and less likely to spread. The findings reveal biological reasons why pancreatic cancer patients with G12R often have better outcomes and point to opportunities for more personalized treatment approaches.

BUFFALO, NY — January 20, 2026 — A new review was published in Volume 17, Issue 12 of Aging-US on December 30, 2025, titled “Aging as a multifactorial disorder with two stages.”

Kyoto, Japan -- Cancer immunotherapy is a type of cancer treatment that harnesses the immune system to fight cancer cells. The treatment involves CD8⁺ T cells, also known as killer T cells, which play a crucial role in attacking tumors. Unfortunately, these cells gradually become exhausted within the tumor microenvironment and lose their full functionality.

The exhaustion of killer T cells is linked to an imbalance in energy metabolism involving glycolysis, the breakdown of glucose into energy, and fatty acid oxidation, or FAO, the breakdown of fatty acids. Previous studies have established that glycolysis drives killer T cells toward terminal exhaustion while FAO can hinder this progression. Yet scientists still don't entirely understand how these two processes are balanced, how this contributes to terminal exhaustion, and how FAO contributes to anti-tumor immunity.

This motivated a team of researchers from Kyoto University to investigate this conundrum. A key physiological role of FAO is the consumption of fatty acids, so the team hypothesized that impaired FAO leads to intracellular fatty acid accumulation, thereby promoting toxic lipid peroxidation. The team focused on active aldehydes, the end products of lipid peroxidation, whose roles in immune cells have not been fully understood.

Duke-NUS and NUHS scientists uncover a complex web of genetic, age-related and microbial factors that increase the risk of stomach cancer.

Researchers at Kumamoto University have developed a highly sensitive blood test that can detect subtle differences in how easily blood begins to clot, offering new possibilities for tailoring anticoagulant therapy and understanding disease-specific clotting abnormalities in patients with cardiovascular disease.