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Metaplastic breast carcinoma (MBC) accounts for 0.2–5% of invasive breast cancers. The majority of MBCs have a triple-negative phenotype, are highly heterogeneous and respond poorly to chemotherapy. Understanding their divergent differentiation and identifying the cell of origin might provide some much-needed insight into this disease.
NUT midline carcinoma, a squamous cell carcinoma, is one of the most aggressive human cancers, and there is a desperate need for effective therapies for patients with this disease.
Two papers have examined the phenotypic and genotypic diversity of individual tumour cells in primary breast cancers before and after neoadjuvant chemotherapy, as well as in breast cancer metastases.
Examination of DNA cytosine methylation during haematopoietic stem cell differentiation identified an epigenetic stem cell commitment signature that was prognostic for overall survival in patients with acute myeloid leukaemia.
Pallaschet al. report an important mechanism through which therapeutic antibodies can induce tumour cell death, and they give an insight into how resistance can develop and be overcome.
This paper reports that PI3K functions upstream of RAS and that the inhibition of RAS signalling to ERK is required for PI3K inhibitors to induce apoptosis of cancer cells. Furthermore, intermittent treatment with PI3K inhibitors was sufficient to induce tumour regression in mice.
Charles Keller and colleagues have found that a higher expression of PAX3–FOXO1A during G2/M phase is permissive for G2 checkpoint adaptation in rhabdomyosarcoma.
The past decade has been exciting in terms of research into the molecular and cellular biology of lymphatic vessels in cancer. This Review discusses the specific roles of distinct lymphatic vessel subtypes in cancer, and the potential diagnostic and therapeutic opportunities.
RET is a single-pass transmembrane receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) that is required for normal development, maturation and maintenance of several tissues and cell types. This Review focuses on our understanding of RET biology and function in cancer, and it highlights recent advances that have suggested a broader role for RET in oncogenesis.
The androgen receptor (AR) regulates transcription networks and genomic stability. Selection pressures during prostate cancer development and therapy can affect the activity and regulation of AR across the genome. Defining other factors involved in this reprogramming of AR function provides various opportunities for therapeutic intervention.
Minimally invasive thermal ablation of tumours has become common since the advent of modern imaging. This Opinion article examines the mechanisms of tumour cell death that are induced by the most common thermoablative techniques and discusses the rapidly developing areas of research in the field.
