Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
A paper inNature reportsthat an astrocyte exosome-derived microRNA induces the loss of PTEN expression in disseminated tumour cells in the brain, thus promoting metastasis.
Why do some cancers only metastasize to certain organs? This question of organotropism is perplexing, and a team led by Lyden, Bromberg and Peinado have found that exosomes could be key.
Bestet al. describe a diagnostic platform based on platelet RNA sequencing and self-learning algorithms that discriminates patients with cancer from healthy controls, predicts the localization of the primary tumour and provides information on the molecular tumour phenotype.
Three studies demonstrate that adenosine-to-inosine RNA editing introduces transcriptome diversity in tumours from a range of cancer types and show that this diversity is both functionally important and clinically relevant.
Schwabet al. show that the Fanconi anaemia pathway might prevent genome instability by stabilizing replication forks when actively transcribed DNA is encountered and by removing DNA–RNA hybrids.
This Review highlights emerging mechanisms of acquired resistance to agents targeting the androgen receptor in castration-resistant prostate cancer, which fall into the three broad categories of restored androgen receptor (AR) signalling, AR bypass signalling and complete AR independence.
Increased activity and aberrant localization of cysteine cathepsin proteases within the tumour microenvironment have potent roles in driving cancer progression. This Review discusses the roles of cathepsins and provides a roadmap for the rational integration of cathepsin-targeting agents into clinical treatment.
This Review discusses mathematical modelling approaches in cancer research. These models can complement experimental and clinical studies, but can also challenge current paradigms, redefine our understanding of mechanisms driving tumorigenesis and shape future research.
Genome-based cancer therapeutic matching is limited by incomplete biological understanding of the relationship between phenotype and cancer genotype. This Opinion article proposes that this limitation can be addressed by functional testing of live patient tumour cells exposed to potential therapies.
