Driving up the immune response at the site of a cancer tumor with nanotechnology may help enhance immunotherapy treatments in advanced stages of the disease, new research in mice suggests.

A recent study demonstrates that magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and artificial intelligence (AI) can be used to detect early signs of tumor cell death in response to a novel virus-based cancer therapy.

Recent research compared the genetic expression profiles of a nonlethal canine tumor and the rare, devastating human oral tumor it resembles, laying the groundwork for potential translational medicine down the road.

Which are the best applications for tumor therapy with charged particles to realize its great potential for the future? In which cases can it be used most effectively? These aspects belong to the most exciting questions in radiation biology and medical physics. A group of top-class experts now evaluated and summarized the state-of-the-art of heavy ion radiotherapy and presented a review article in the world-renowned online journal „Nature Reviews“. Main author of the text with the title „Physics and biomedical challenges of cancer therapy with accelerated heavy ions“ is Professor Marco Durante, Head of the GSI Biophysics Research Department.

A team of researchers has developed a noninvasive diagnostic method that may one day replace the biopsy with a simple blood test.

The prognosis for pancreatic cancer is usually grim: The tumors are often detected too late and are then difficult to treat. Yet a small percentage of patients survive many years after diagnosis. Scientists from the Berlin Institute of Health at Charité (BIH) have now grown organoids from various pancreatic tumors in the laboratory, which they used to identify individual cell types and test the effects of various drugs. This enables patient-specific diagnostics and opens up the possibility of targeted therapy. The researchers have now published their findings in the journal Nature Communications.

A new study has identified an RNA molecule that suppresses prostate tumors. The scientists found that prostate cancers develop ways to shut down this RNA molecule to allow themselves to grow. According to the new research — conducted in mice implanted with human prostate tumor samples — restoring this so-called long noncoding RNA could be a new strategy to treat prostate cancer that has developed resistance to hormonal therapies.

An experimental drug enhanced the benefit of an immunotherapy to fight pancreatic cancer in mice by increasing the number of immune cells in the immediate vicinity of the tumor, leading to a reduction in tumor growth, and in some mice, eliminating their cancer.

In a breakthrough for the treatment of aggressive solid cancers, researchers have developed a novel cancer therapy that targets proteins inside cancer cells that are essential for tumor growth and survival but have been historically impossible to reach. Using the power of large data sets and advanced computational approaches, the researchers were able to identify peptides that are presented on the surface of tumor cells and can be targeted with ‚peptide-centric‘ chimeric antigen receptors (PC-CARs), a new class of engineered T cells, stimulating an immune response that eradicates tumors.

Molecular targets for therapies that could prevent breast cancer recurrence have been identified by a group of scientists who analyzed tumor cells that proved resistant to the original treatment. Recent advances in early detection and targeted therapy have led to a growing success in treating breast cancer upon first presentation. This often is achieved by silencing tumor driving oncogenes and causing tumor regression.

Researchers have used high-density nanofibers that mimic the microenvironment of the brain to capture tumor cells, opening doors to novel therapeutic solutions for aggressive brain cancer.

Researchers describe a new liquid biopsy method using lab-on-a-chip technology that they believe can detect cancer before a tumor is even formed. Using magnetic particles coated in a specially designed bonding agent, the liquid biopsy chip attracts and captures particles containing cancer-causing biomarkers. A close analysis can identify the type of cancer they are carrying. This, the researchers say, can significantly improve cancer diagnosis and treatment.

Stem-like cells that make up only a tiny fraction of the total cells in a lung tumor could be the key to stopping the disease’s deadly spread, say researchers.

The prognosis for a cancer patient who undergoes surgery is better if the surgeon removes all of the tumor, but it can be hard to tell where a tumor ends and healthy tissue begins. Now, scientists report that they have developed a fluorescent spray that specifically lights up cancerous tissue so it can be identified readily and removed during surgery.

The immune system protects the body from cancer. To protect healthy body cells from its own immune system, they have developed a protective shield: the protein CD47 is a so called ‚don’t eat me‘ signal, which tells the immune cells to stand back. Tumor cells exploit this CD47-based protection strategy for evading the immune system, by increasing presentation of CD47 on their cell surface. A team has now developed a therapy concept for programming the tumor cells to produce on their own a CD47-blocking and immune-activation fusion protein. This therapy approach could stop tumor growth.

Metformin, a drug commonly prescribed against diabetes, holds promise against a rare type of childhood brain tumor in laboratory studies, an international team of researchers.

Researchers identified a small RNA molecule called miR-766-5p that reduces expression of MYC, a critical cancer-promoting gene. This microRNA reduces levels of proteins CBP and BRD4, which are both involved in super-enhancer (SE) formation. SEs form in areas of DNA that can fuel MYC expression and tumor progression. This study provides strong evidence for developing miR-766-5p as a novel therapeutic to treat MYC-driven cancers.

A new study examined the development of a glioblastoma cancerous tumor in animal models with a normal immune system, in order to best simulate the development of the tumor in humans.

Scientist have utilized so-called SNAP-tag technology to radioactively label cells in living organisms. In a proof-of-principle study they developed a SNAP-tag substrate equipped with the radioactive signal emitter fluorine-18 and used it to make tumor cells in the bodies of mice visible in PET images. The labeling method, already established in microscopy, opens up the prospect of studying cells with different imaging techniques and at different temporal stages — for example, when inflammation begins, continues and resolves again. This may help reveal more about how the functions of individual cells and entire organs are interconnected.

Engineers developed a technique that allows them to measure the generation rate and half-life of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in mice.

Known as pediatric radiation-induced high-grade gliomas (RIGs), this specific type of brain tumor is caused by cranial radiation therapy for other cancers, most often brain cancers. They account for nearly 4% of all childhood brain tumor deaths, but there have not been many studies on RIGs and how to treat them.

An international team of scientists have created a three-dimensional (3D) pancreatic cancer tumour model in the laboratory, combining a bioengineered matrix and patient-derived cells that could be used to develop and test targeted treatments.

When cells multiply and migrate, they can be compressed and their nucleus may break open. This phenomenon causes DNA damage. Scientists have now shown that this facilitates the spread of cancer cells in breast tumors.

Antikörper sind die zielgerichteten Waffen des Immunsystems im Kampf gegen Viren – und immer mehr auch in der Krebsmedizin. Dabei hilft es, dass sich die Naturmoleküle künstlich hochrüsten lassen und die Waffensysteme vernetzen können.

A new study finds that pancreatic cells display an adaptive response to repeated inflammation that initially protects against tissue damage but can promote tumor formation in the presence of mutant KRAS.