Evolutionary biology of high-risk multiple myeloma
Nature Reviews Cancer 17, 543 (2017).
doi:10.1038/nrc.2017.63
Authors: Charlotte Pawlyn & Gareth J. Morgan
The outcomes for the majority of patients with myeloma have improved over recent decades, driven by treatment advances. However, there is a subset of patients considered to have high-risk disease who have not benefited. Understanding how high-risk disease evolves from more therapeutically tractable stages is (Source: Nature Reviews Cancer)
Source: Nature Reviews Cancer - August 24, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Charlotte Pawlyn Gareth J. Morgan Tags: Review Source Type: research
Therapy-related myeloid neoplasms: when genetics and environment collide
Nature Reviews Cancer 17, 513 (2017).
doi:10.1038/nrc.2017.60
Authors: Megan E. McNerney, Lucy A. Godley & Michelle M. Le Beau
Therapy-related myeloid neoplasms (t-MN) arise as a late effect of chemotherapy and/or radiation administered for a primary condition, typically a malignant disease, solid organ transplant or autoimmune disease. Survival is measured in months, not years, making t-MN one of the most aggressive and lethal cancers. (Source: Nature Reviews Cancer)
Source: Nature Reviews Cancer - August 24, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Megan E. McNerney Lucy A. Godley Michelle M. Le Beau Tags: Review Source Type: research
Immunotherapy: Searching in the immune checkpoint black box
Nature Reviews Cancer 17, 511 (2017).
doi:10.1038/nrc.2017.75
Author: M. Teresa Villanueva
Reporting in Nature, the team led by Haining has identified that deletion of Ptpn2, among other genes, in tumour cells makes them more susceptible to PD1 inhibitors. (Source: Nature Reviews Cancer)
Source: Nature Reviews Cancer - August 24, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: M. Teresa Villanueva Tags: Research Highlight Source Type: research
Metastasis: Throwing oil into the flames
Nature Reviews Cancer 17, 510 (2017).
doi:10.1038/nrc.2017.76
Author: Ulrike Harjes
Both obesity and systemic inflammation promote cancer progression, although how obesity-associated inflammation affects cancer metastasis is poorly understood. Quail et al. now show that obesity induces cytokines that stimulate lung neutrophilia in mice, thereby promoting breast cancer metastasis. (Source: Nature Reviews Cancer)
Source: Nature Reviews Cancer - August 24, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Ulrike Harjes Tags: Research Highlight Source Type: research
Therapeutic resistance: Ironing it out
Nature Reviews Cancer 17, 510 (2017).
doi:10.1038/nrc.2017.71
Author: Ulrike Harjes
Since mesenchymal-like properties in cancer cells are often associated with therapy resistance, Viswanathan et al. explored vulnerabilities of these cells. They identified an enzyme of the lipid peroxidase pathway, inhibition of which caused ferroptosis in a range of cancer types. (Source: Nature Reviews Cancer)
Source: Nature Reviews Cancer - August 11, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Ulrike Harjes Tags: Research Highlight Source Type: research
Tumour evolution: Metastasis takes a different route
Nature Reviews Cancer 17, 509 (2017).
doi:10.1038/nrc.2017.70
Author: Anna Dart
A new study has looked at the evolutionary origins of lymphatic and distant metastases in human colorectal cancer and found that, in most cases, cancer spread to lymph nodes is not a precursor for seeding of cancer cells to other organs. (Source: Nature Reviews Cancer)
Source: Nature Reviews Cancer - August 11, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Anna Dart Tags: Research Highlight Source Type: research
Targeting autophagy in cancer
Nature Reviews Cancer 17, 528 (2017).
doi:10.1038/nrc.2017.53
Authors: Jean M. Mulcahy Levy, Christina G. Towers & Andrew Thorburn
Autophagy is a mechanism by which cellular material is delivered to lysosomes for degradation, leading to the basal turnover of cell components and providing energy and macromolecular precursors. Autophagy has opposing, context-dependent roles in cancer, and interventions to both stimulate and inhibit autophagy have been (Source: Nature Reviews Cancer)
Source: Nature Reviews Cancer - July 28, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Jean M. Mulcahy Levy Christina G. Towers Andrew Thorburn Tags: Review Source Type: research
Fragile sites in cancer: more than meets the eye
Nature Reviews Cancer 17, 489 (2017).
doi:10.1038/nrc.2017.52
Authors: Thomas W. Glover, Thomas E. Wilson & Martin F. Arlt
Ever since initial suggestions that instability at common fragile sites (CFSs) could be responsible for chromosome rearrangements in cancers, CFSs and associated genes have been the subject of numerous studies, leading to questions and controversies about their role and importance in cancer. It is now (Source: Nature Reviews Cancer)
Source: Nature Reviews Cancer - July 25, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Thomas W. Glover Thomas E. Wilson Martin F. Arlt Tags: Perspectives Source Type: research
Novel insights into mesothelioma biology and implications for therapy
Nature Reviews Cancer 17, 475 (2017).
doi:10.1038/nrc.2017.42
Authors: Timothy A. Yap, Joachim G. Aerts, Sanjay Popat & Dean A. Fennell
Malignant mesothelioma is a universally lethal cancer that is increasing in incidence worldwide. There is a dearth of effective therapies, with only one treatment (pemetrexed and cisplatin combination chemotherapy) approved in the past 13 years. However, the past 5 years have witnessed an exponential growth (Source: Nature Reviews Cancer)
Source: Nature Reviews Cancer - July 25, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Timothy A. Yap Joachim G. Aerts Sanjay Popat Dean A. Fennell Tags: Review Source Type: research
Neuroblastoma: Tumours get super-enhanced
Nature Reviews Cancer 17, 455 (2017).
doi:10.1038/nrc.2017.56
Author: Conor A. Bradley
Van Groningen et al. unravel the epigenetic nature of intratumoural heterogeneity in neuroblastoma, which comprises both lineage-committed adrenergic cells and undifferentiated mesenchymal cells that are defined by unique super-enhancer transcriptional networks and gene expression signatures. (Source: Nature Reviews Cancer)
Source: Nature Reviews Cancer - July 25, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Conor A. Bradley Tags: Research Highlight Source Type: research
Chemotherapy: Neutrophils deliver the goods
Nature Reviews Cancer 17, 454 (2017).
doi:10.1038/nrc.2017.62
Author: M. Teresa Villanueva
Neutrophils carrying liposomes that contain the antimitotic drug paclitaxel can penetrate the brain and suppress the recurrence of glioma in mice, thereby significantly improving survival. (Source: Nature Reviews Cancer)
Source: Nature Reviews Cancer - July 25, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: M. Teresa Villanueva Tags: Research Highlight Source Type: research
Leukaemia: Multiple origins of relapse
Nature Reviews Cancer 17, 453 (2017).
doi:10.1038/nrc.2017.67
Author: Ulrike Harjes
The origin of relapse in acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) is thought to be due to drug-promoted mutagenesis or to the selection of drug-resistant cells. Shlush et al. provide evidence for the latter and propose at least two distinct patterns of relapse in AML. In (Source: Nature Reviews Cancer)
Source: Nature Reviews Cancer - July 25, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Ulrike Harjes Tags: Research Highlight Source Type: research
Tumour immunology: Tumours copy to escape
Nature Reviews Cancer 17, 453 (2017).
doi:10.1038/nrc.2017.66
Author: Ulrike Harjes
How tumours escape the immune system is not well defined. Nirschl et al. show that immune phagocytes in human melanoma share a physiological gene signature, which co-enriches and correlates with interferon-γ (IFNγ)-directed gene transcripts, and which is induced across multiple human cancers. Suppressor of (Source: Nature Reviews Cancer)
Source: Nature Reviews Cancer - July 25, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Ulrike Harjes Tags: Research Highlight Source Type: research
Tumour immunology: Feeding frenzy
Nature Reviews Cancer 17, 453 (2017).
doi:10.1038/nrc.2017.65
Author: Anna Dart
Tumour cells are thought to avoid being phagocytosed through expression of the 'self' marker CD47, which ligates the macrophage receptor SIRPα. Alvey et al. investigated the potential of SIRPα-inhibited bone marrow-derived macrophages, primed with tumour-targeting antibodies, to clear tumours in vivo. Systemic injection (Source: Nature Reviews Cancer)
Source: Nature Reviews Cancer - July 25, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Anna Dart Tags: Research Highlight Source Type: research
Epigenetics: Tumour suppressive HIF2 α
Nature Reviews Cancer 17, 453 (2017).
doi:10.1038/nrc.2017.64
Author: Anna Dart
Westerlund et al. found that combining the DNA demethylating drug 5-aza-deoxycytidine with the differentiation-promoting therapy retinoic acid inhibited tumour growth and prolonged survival in mouse xenograft models of high-risk neuroblastoma. This treatment resulted in high hypoxia-inducible factor 2α (HIF2α) levels but not HIF1α, and (Source: Nature Reviews Cancer)
Source: Nature Reviews Cancer - July 25, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Anna Dart Tags: Research Highlight Source Type: research
