Perspectives

This Opinion discusses studies indicating a direct role of RB in chromatin regulation and DNA repair. The authors propose that a non-canonical RB pathway exists, which is independent of the function of RB in cell cycle regulation and which contributes to cancer progression.

This Opinion article highlights how activating mutations in the gene encoding oestrogen receptor-α (ERα), a major driver in breast cancer, undermine structural features of wild-type ERα that maintain the ‘off-state’ in the absence of oestrogens, thus making ERα constitutively active and endocrine-therapy resistant.

This Opinion argues for a new look at the role of ABC transporters in cancer multidrug resistance to push forward their clinical application as biomarkers and as targets in combination therapies in order to improve anticancer drug efficiency.

This Perspective provides an update on targeted therapy development for neuroblastoma and proposes that clinical trial design needs to be rethought in order to provide rigorous, evidence-based assessment of these new therapies in this rare and often deadly paediatric tumour.

In this Opinion article, Seluanov et al. discuss the diverse mechanisms of cancer resistance found in long-lived mammals and argue that studies of unconventional long-lived and cancer-resistant animal species could provide breakthroughs in cancer therapy and prevention.