●Sweet control of cell migration, cytokinesis and organogenesis. Podbilewicz, B. Nature Cell Biology January (2004) Glycoproteins have been implicated in intercellular functions including cell adhesion and migration. In light of recent scientific evidence, this News and Views article addresses why proteins are glycosylated.

●Androgen receptor outwits prostate cancer drugs. Isaacs, J. T. & Isaacs, W. B. Nature Medicine January (2004) This News and Views article indicates that androgen resistance in patients with metastatic prostate cancer is caused by increased expression of the androgen receptor.

●Cancer surgery joins the dots. Uren, R. F. Nature Biotechnology January (2004) Biopsies of sentinel lymph nodes are used to determine if cancer has metastasized; however, this type of surgery is extremely difficult. A new technique, which uses near-infrared fluorescence emitted by quantum dots, could help surgeons visualize the sentinel lymph nodes and is discussed in this News and Views piece.

●Repairing DNA methylation damage. Sedgwick, B. Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology February (2004)

●Cytokine–receptor pairing: accelerating discovery of cytokine function and potential therapeutics. Foster, D., Parrish-Novak, J., Fox, B. & Xu, W. Nature Reviews Drug Discovery February (2004)

●Monoclonal antibodies: story of a discovery that revolutionized science and medicine. Alkan, S. S. Nature Reviews Immunology February (2004) Monoclonal antibodies can be used in research, diagnosis and treatment of cancer, but how were these useful molecules discovered?

●E3 ligase activity and suppression of breast cancer. Eggleston, A. K. Nature Structural and Molecular Biology January (2004) Although BRCA1 and BRCA2 are associated with hereditary breast and ovarian cancer, the function of the proteins that are encoded by these genes remains elusive. A BRCA1–BRCA2-containing holoenzyme complex — BRCC — that has E3 ubiquitin ligase activity has recently been identified and is discussed in this News and Views article.

●Conquering the complexity of p53. Attardi, L. D. & DePinho, R. A. Nature Genetics January (2004) A News and Views article discussing a Trp53 knock-in mouse model in which the apoptotic function of p53 has been abrogated. Comparison of this model with Trp53−/− mice demonstrates the importance of p53 cell-cycle regulation in suppressing tumour growth.