Hair graying and melanoma—a form of skin cancer—may seem like unrelated phenomena. But according to a new study from The University of Tokyo, both outcomes may arise from how pigment-producing stem cells respond to DNA damage. These cells, located in hair follicles, face a critical decision under genotoxic stress: either to differentiate and exit the system—leading to graying—or to continue dividing, which may eventually lead to tumor formation.

Researchers at the University of Galway have revealed the results of a world-first study into how bowel cancer shuts down the immune system, and how this can be reversed to improve treatment.

The findings have been published in the Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer (JITC).

The research team showed how structural stromal cells switch off the immune system and how the body’s own killer cells can be switched back on, opening up the opportunity for a completely new approach to optimising immunotherapy for patients.

A new clinical trials shows that pembrolizumab, a drug that utilizes the body’s immune system to target and eliminate cancer cells, appeared to reduce the risk of distant metastases for an aggressive form of skin cancer when given immediately after surgery, but did not significantly reduce the overall risk of recurrence, which was a co-primary endpoint of the trial. The randomized phase 3 trial called STAMP or EA6174, is the largest clinical study to date evaluating pembrolizumab as adjuvant therapy for Merkel cell carcinoma, an extremely aggressive disease, with fewer than half of patients surviving 5 years after diagnosis.