MUTE-Seq is a new liquid-biopsy method powered by an engineered ultra-precise CRISPR enzyme, FnCas9-AF2, which can distinguish single-base mismatches across all sgRNA positions with near-zero off-target activity. By selectively removing wild-type DNA before sequencing, it boosts true mutant signals up to tens of times and enables detection as low as ~0.005% VAF. The technique improves MRD monitoring and early-stage cancer detection while avoiding the need for costly ultra-deep sequencing.

When cell division (mitosis) takes too long, it can be a sign that something is wrong with the cells, for example DNA damage or chromosomal instability. That’s why our cells come with an innate ability to tell the time, with a stress response known as the mitotic stopwatch pathway activating after prolonged mitosis. Now, researchers at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) have found that certain cancers can ‘lose their sense of time’ to avoid cellular stress responses, revealing new insights that could shape future anti-cancer therapeutics.

An international research team has identified a human protein, ANKLE1, as the first DNA-cutting enzyme (nuclease) in mammals capable of detecting and responding to physical tension in DNA. This ‘tension-sensing’ mechanism plays a vital role in maintaining genetic integrity during cell division—a process that, when disrupted, can lead to cancer and other serious diseases.

A new national study shows for the first time that people exposed to Agent Orange face a higher risk of developing myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), tend to develop it earlier, and often have more aggressive disease that is more likely to progress to acute myeloid leukemia.