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.
Because of the increased production of acids, the altered metabolism of tumour cells renders them especially reliant on pH-regulatory systems that ensure that the intracellular pH does not decrease too much. This Review discusses the interplay among metabolism, hypoxia and pH regulation and whether pH-regulatory systems can be targeted for anticancer therapy.
The zebrafish has emerged as an important model system with which to investigate cancer, particularly for validating genomics data and for undertaking screens for oncogenes and drivers of tumour progression and metastasis. This Review outlines what we have learned and could still learn from cancer research using the zebrafish.
Many therapeutic agents target the ERBB family of receptor tyrosine kinases in various cancers. This Opinion article describes our latest understanding of the value of combining inhibitors directed towards an individual ERBB family member, including the molecular mechanisms of synergy and progress in clinical trials.
This Science and Society article addresses the possibilities of expanding scientific networking to increase awareness of the risk of lung cancer that is promoted by air pollution.
The efficacy of surgery is dependent on removing the entire tumour and also on not damaging important structures, such as nerves. Strategies, such as fluorescent labelling, are being developed to visually identify tumour cells and crucial structures in order to improve the safe resection of tumours. These methods have the potential to improve the survival of cancer patients, as discussed here.
A study reported inSciencehas found that sympathetic and parasympathetic nerves are involved in prostate cancer growth and dissemination in mouse models, and has begun to elucidate the molecular pathways by which nerves affect tumours, suggesting possible therapeutic approaches.
The data in this paper indicate that the combined treatment of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma in mice with gemcitabine and an antibody that targets connective tissue growth factor has greater efficacy than either treatment alone owing to a reduction in the expression levels of XIAP.
Endothelin 1 (ET1) is a secreted protein that can function through autocrine and paracrine signalling to modulate various properties of cancer cells and their microenvironment. This Review describes our latest understanding of the biological roles of ET1 in cancer and the results of clinical trials with drugs that target the ET1 signalling pathway.
Adoptive T cell therapy using engineered T cells to improve antitumour responses is showing promise for the treatment of haematological malignancies in particular. This Review discusses the strategies to engineer T cells and the progress that has been made with using gene-modified T cells to treat cancer patients.
Offermanns and colleagues found that tumour cell-activated platelets induce endothelial opening — which promotes extravasation — through adenine nucleotide-mediated activation of P2Y2 on endothelial cells.
A paper inCell reports that breast cancer cells can transition between non-cancer stem cell (CSC)-like and CSC-like states; this is dependent on ZEB1, which can be readily activated by microenvironmental signals in non-CSCs that maintain the chromatin at the ZEB1promoter in a bivalent state.
Can novel materials, probes and tools, which represent an integration of traditional and new engineering approaches with cancer biology, help us to better understand tumour progression and invasion?
Two recent papers indicate that increasing the turnover of MYC proteins in tumours might promote the loss of an immature, self-renewing cell population and might, therefore, have a therapeutic impact.
The DREAM complex provides a previously unsuspected unifying role in the cell cycle. This Opinion article explores the functions of the DREAM complex and how they might contribute to tumour development and progression.
