Research Highlights

In this study, Weems et al. demonstrate that detachment-induced dynamic blebbing leads to the assembly of pro-survival signalling molecules at the plasma membrane, which protects melanoma cells from anoikis.

Han et al. employed an in vivo imaging workflow that coupled positron emission tomography imaging to micro-computed tomography and 3D serial block-face electron microscopy to produce a detailed structural and functional map of mitochondrial networks in lung cancer.

In this study, Bhardwaj et al. highlight the mechanistic link between elevated body mass index and breast epithelial cell DNA damage in individuals carrying BRCA mutations.

In this study, the authors investigate the mechanistic basis of alternative telomere lengthening, a process that certain cancer cells use to overcome telomere shortening.

Altea-Manzano et al. find that factors secreted by primary breast tumours or high-fat diet feeding enriches the fatty acid palmitate in distant organs, which primes pre-metastatic niches enabling metastatic growth.

In this study, Linde et al. demonstrate how therapeutic activation of neutrophils leads to tumour eradication and reduced metastatic seeding in multiple mouse models of cancer.

In this study, Jung-Garcia et al. use in vitro and in vivo modelling to demonstrate the role of LAP1 in promoting melanoma cell invasion and highlight its link to metastatic dissemination.

This study shows how the selective immune pressure in early-stage tumours drives interferon-γ-dependent metabolic reprogramming in cancer cells to mediate immune escape.

To understand malignant progression, Yuan et al. delineate the complex crosstalk between cancer stem cells and their microenvironment that is initiated by oncogenic RAS.

In a study in Nature, Wang et al. describe how circadian rhythms can impact tumour suppression through their effects on dendritic cells, a finding that could help to optimize clinical trials of cancer immunotherapies.

Two recent studies have demonstrated how senescent cancer cells alter their cell surface proteome to induce anti-tumour immune responses, highlighting the potential therapeutic role of inducing senescence to improve anti-tumour immunity.

In this study, Cao et al. identified previously undiscovered metabolites produced by human gut microbes that cause DNA damage, and analysed their implication for colorectal cancer development.

Schmitt et al. describe an adaptive mechanism employed by colorectal cancers to handle pro-apoptotic chemotherapeutic insults, which could represent a targetable vulnerability with combination therapy.

Notarangelo et al. reveal that the oncometabolite d-2-hydroxyglutarate, which is released in high quantities by tumour cells, is taken up by CD8⁺ T cells in the tumour microenvironment and blocks their proliferation and cytotoxicity by inhibition of lactate dehydrogenase and metabolic reprogramming.

In two studies published concurrently, Dohlman et al. and Narunsky-Haziza et al. have found strong correlative links between the prevalence of fungal DNA and cancer.

Karras et al. map cell state diversity in melanoma and identify a cellular hierarchy that is regulated by microenvironmental cues.

Kalkavan et al. find sublethal cytochrome c release leads to a caspase-independent, ATF4-dependent drug-tolerant persister phenotype.

Using single-cell RNA-seq and functional analysis in prostate cancer organoids and mouse models, Chan et al. identify inflammatory JAK–STAT signalling to drive the transition of adenocarcinomas to neuroendocrine prostate cancer.