The enzyme that doesn’t act like one
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 8-Nov-2025 08:11 ET (8-Nov-2025 13:11 GMT/UTC)
A surprising discovery reveals how a single protein helps cells decide when to make the building blocks of DNA. Researchers at CeMM, together with collaborators from the University of Oxford, have discovered that the enzyme NUDT5 acts not through its chemical activity, but as a physical “scaffold” that helps switch off a key metabolic pathway when purine levels are high. The study, published in Science (DOI 10.1126/science.adv4257), reveals a mechanism with implications for cancer treatment and inherited metabolic disorders.
Spatial maps of lung precancer and cancer cells at different points in development advance understanding of the earliest stages of lung cancer
Findings highlight inflammation as a driver of lung tumor initiation
Targeting inflammation could be a potential therapeutic strategy to intercept lung cancer and improve patient outcomes
A cellular resistance mechanism at the origin of relapses of triple-negative breast cancer has recently been discovered by scientists from CNRS, Institut Curie and Université Paris Cité. Their findings have been published in Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, on 6 November 2025.
This is the main objective of a research project involving scientists from Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, campus di Roma e della Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS insieme a Sapienza Università di Roma and the University of Limoges. The project, called “MULTIPROBE,” has won the prestigious ERC Synergy Grant 2025 funding. A second ERC grant in this category was awarded to a researcher from the Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan.
Metastasis remains the deadliest cancer complication, driven by circulating tumor cells (CTCs) that evade immune defenses in the bloodstream. A new review by scientists of China explores how CTCs interact with platelets, immune cells, and molecular pathways to survive, highlighting emerging therapeutic strategies and the evolving role of CTCs in liquid biopsy and metastasis prevention. The findings offer promising directions for advancing cancer diagnostics and anti-metastatic treatments.