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Acetoet al. demonstrate that in mouse models of breast cancer, clusters of circulating tumour cells (CTCs) are oligoclonal and are substantially more likely to give rise to metastases than single CTCs. CTC clusters also correlate with reduced survival in patients with breast and prostate cancer.
A study inJAMAhas found that women with unilateral breast cancer who undergo double mastectomies do not have better outcomes than those who undergo lumpectomy followed by radiation.
Administration of autologous gene-modified haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) improves treatment tolerance and outcome in glioblastoma overexpressing methylguanine methyltransferase (MGMT) and treated with O6-benzylguanine and temozolomide.
Vagal innervation promotes tumorigenesis via WNT signalling mediated by muscarinic acetylcholine receptor 3 (M3R) in gastric cancer. Denervation, therefore, might represent a feasible strategy to control this disease.
Rampiaset al. show that Notch signalling is frequently inactivated in human bladder cancers and its loss can promote tumorigenesis in mice through suppressing transcription of phosphatases that normally function to inhibit ERK signalling and proliferation.
There has recently been a flurry of publications on the molecular and genetic basis of diffuse high-grade glioma, a devastating paediatric tumour. In this Review, Jones and Baker integrate these findings to provide new insight into this disease. In particular, the unique selective pressures driving the paediatric disease along with their associated mutations, potential molecular mechanisms and how this information could be harnessed therapeutically, are discussed.
Germline mutations inDICER1 can lead to DICER1 syndrome, which is characterized by the predisposition of various types of cancer in childhood and during early adulthood. Additionally, specific DICER1 mutations occur in tumours. This Review discusses germline and somatically-acquired DICER1mutations and their effects on tumorigenesis.
CUT-like homeobox 1 (CUX1) is a homeobox gene that is implicated in both tumour suppression and progression. What are the functions of the CUX1 protein, and how might the opposite roles of CUX1 in cancer protection and progression be explained?
This Opinion article considers the current status of stem cell-based treatments for cancer, such as the optimization of technologies to manipulate and deploy stem cells to target cancerous cells. It addresses safety concerns and discusses how the most promising preclinical studies might be translated into the clinic.
'Integrative oncology', also known as complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), is being increasingly accepted in cancer care and research. This Opinion article aims to define what is meant by CAM in cancer and argues that the vast majority of these treatments are supported by little, if any, scientific evidence. Furthermore, it asks the questions: is there any harm in these treatments, and are there any potential benefits?
