A new study from MUSC Hollings Cancer Center reveals that women who have survived cervical cancer face a significantly higher long-term risk of developing anal cancer. Using data from more than 85,000 cervical cancer patients tracked over two decades, researchers found that survivors had nearly twice the risk of anal cancer compared to the general population. The risk was especially high among women ages 65 to 74 who were more than 15 years past their cervical cancer diagnosis, surpassing the threshold for recommending routine screening. 

Currently, anal cancer screening is only recommended for certain high-risk groups, and women with a history of cervical cancer are not included. This study highlights the need to update screening guidelines and expand access to specialized screening tools. The researchers hope the findings raise awareness among patients and providers, ensuring that women who have already faced one cancer are better protected from developing another.

Primary liver cancer is the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths, of which hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) accounts for approximately 90% of all liver cancer cases. Given that the development of HCC is a multifactorial and multistage process, its increasing incidence underscores the need to understand its molecular mechanisms and identify potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets.

Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the most common malignant tumors in men worldwide. While early detection has improved patient outcomes, effective therapies for advanced disease remain limited. Identifying the molecular drivers of PCa growth and metastasis is therefore essential to developing new treatment strategies that can overcome resistance to standard therapies.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are carcinogenic compounds introduced in food due to cooking methods such as smoking, grilling, and frying. Recently, researchers from Seoul National University of Science and Technology have leveraged a new method called QuEChERS-GC-MS to extract and detect PAHs in common food items, finding the highest levels in soybean oil, followed by duck meat and canola oil.

An international research group led by The University of Osaka has developed scODIN, a novel computational tool to classify cell types from single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) data. Existing methods struggle to balance speed and accuracy, often misclassifying rare or transitional cells. scODIN overcomes this limitation by combining a hierarchical classification system (Tier system) with k-nearest neighbor inference. This approach allows for the rapid and accurate classification of large datasets, processing 650,000 cells in just six minutes. The tool's improved accuracy stems from its ability to identify cells at varying levels of detail, recognize intermediate phenotypes through double labeling, and recover cells affected by dropout events. scODIN promises to accelerate biomedical discoveries by enabling more precise and efficient analysis of complex biological processes and disease mechanisms.