EurekAlert! Cancer Research - News Releases

News Releases

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 29-Apr-2025 04:08 ET (29-Apr-2025 08:08 GMT/UTC)

Powerful new tool promises major advances in cancer treatment

University of South Australia
Grant and Award Announcement

New Australian technology is set to transform the way that gastrointestinal cancers are detected and treated with precise, minimally invasive surgery.

Funder: Australian Government

One in 3,000 people at risk of punctured lung from faulty gene – almost 100 times higher than previous estimate

University of Cambridge
Peer-Reviewed Publication

As many as one in 3,000 people could be carrying a faulty gene that significantly increases their risk of a punctured lung, according to new estimates from Cambridge researchers. Previous estimates had put this risk closer to one in 200,000 people. The gene in question, FLCN, is linked to a condition known as Birt-Hogg-Dubé syndrome, symptoms of which include benign skin tumours, lung cysts, and an increased risk of kidney cancer.

Journal: Thorax
Funder: Myrovlytis Trust, NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre

Medically tailored meal programs could yield significant health care savings across 49 US states

Tufts University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Simulation model estimates that Food is Medicine programs, if implemented nationwide, could save approximately $32.1 billion in health care costs in the first year alone and prevent more than 3.5 million hospitalizations annually related to complications from diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.

Journal: Health Affairs
Funder: NIH/National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, NIH/National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, NIH/National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities

Neighborhood disadvantage, individual experiences of racism, and breast cancer survival

JAMA Network
Peer-Reviewed Publication

About The Study: In this cohort of Black women, living in disadvantaged neighborhoods was associated with a higher mortality from breast cancer, even after accounting for stage at diagnosis, treatments, and individual-level lifestyle factors. Community-level interventions to reduce environmental stressors and improve conditions in disadvantaged neighborhoods, including access to high-quality cancer care, may be critical to reducing racial disparities in breast cancer survival.

Journal: JAMA Network Open

Test predicts which patients with prostate cancer are most likely to develop long-term side effects from radiation therapy

University of California - Los Angeles Health Sciences
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The test, called PROSTOX, is the first of its kind to use microRNAs to predict toxicity from cancer therapy. It could help prevent the burden of long-term complications by identifying patients most at risk before treatment even begins.

Journal: Clinical Cancer Research
Funder: NIH/National Cancer Institute

Improving melanoma treatment by blocking an enzyme

Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie
Peer-Reviewed Publication

About 65% of melanoma patients do not respond to immunotherapy. New work by the team of Prof. Max Mazzone (VIB-KU Leuven Center for Cancer Biology) discovered that an enzyme called HPGDS (expressed in a specific subset of macrophages), plays a key role in immunotherapy resistance. Blocking HPGDS may be a new way to overcome immunotherapy resistance in melanoma patients and potentially in other tumors facing similar challenges. The results of this study were published in Cancer Discovery, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

Journal: Cancer Discovery
Funder: European Research Council, Stichting Tegen Kanker, Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek

New findings on T cell exhaustion: The body prepares early for mild to severe disease

Technical University of Munich (TUM)
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Even in the case of uncomplicated infections, the body prepares itself early on for the possibility of a more severe course. A research team from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and Helmholtz Munich has now uncovered this mechanism. The scientists showed that, right at the onset of mild illness, the body also produces special T cells previously known only from chronic, severe infections and tumors.

Journal: Nature
Funder: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, European Research Council Consolidator Grant

New insights: a natural small molecule isowalsuranolide targeting TrxR1/2 and triggering self-eating (autophagy) to combat cancer

Science China Press
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Lysosomes are considered as the major degradative site and were recently recognized as dynamic regulators of cellular homeostasis. Many diseases, including cancer, have been linked to functional changes in lysosomes. Natural products and their structural analogs have historically made major contributions to pharmacotherapy. By employing the natural small molecule isowalsuranolide as a chemical probe, the underlying mechanisms of its lysosome-inducing effects were investigated. This study revealed that isowalsuranolide targets TrxR1/2 and triggers lysosomal biogenesis and autophagy via the p53-TFEB/TFE3 axis. This study provides important insight into the lysosomal adaptation mechanism to redox signals and the application of lysosome-inducing agents in the treatment of lysosome-related diseases, including cancer.

Journal: Science China Life Sciences

New study reveals how tumors hijack key nutrient to evade immune attack

Chinese Academy of Sciences Headquarters
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Chinese scientists have revealed a hidden metabolic partnership between breast cancer cells and immune cells that drives aggressive tumor behavior and resistance to immunotherapies. The study sheds light on how tumor cells exploit the amino acid arginine to both fuel their growth and evade the immune system.

Journal: Cancer Cell

High numbers of rural patients cross state lines for cancer care

Huntsman Cancer Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Over 7% of Medicare patients travel across state borders for cancer care, though the percentage nearly doubles for rural patients. Tracy Onega says this has major impacts on telehealth policy.

Journal: JAMA Network Open

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