Opinion in 2016

This Opinion article discusses the recurring regulatory architecture that is both necessary and sufficient to maintain tumour cell state. Considering this architecture provides a valuable reductionist framework to study the genetic heterogeneity of human disease and to drive key translational applications.

This Opinion article discusses the various migration modes used by cancer cells in confining microenvironments and explains how understanding confined cancer cell motilityin vivo through the application of engineered in vitromodels could help to develop therapeutic approaches to prevent metastases.

Ovarian cancer comprises a broad range of histologically and genetically different tumours. In this Opinion article, Karneziset al. explore the different origins of ovarian cancers and how these contribute to our understanding of genetic and environmental risk to better prevent and treat these tumours.

This Opinion article discusses many controversial issues surrounding the connections of progestogens, which stimulate the progesterone receptor, to breast cancer risk and their possible therapeutic use in breast cancer.

In this Opinion article, the authors propose that the function of Polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2) in maintaining, rather than specifying, transcriptional repression can explain its seemingly contradictory roles in cancer.

Apoptotic cell death undoubtedly has beneficial roles in cancer, but paradoxically, apoptosis can also cause unwanted effects that could promote cancer. This Opinion article highlights some of the ways in which apoptosis can exert oncogenic functions.

Nerve invasion frequently occurs in tumours and has traditionally been viewed as a passive process; however, recent studies have revealed active migration of cancer cells along axons (neural tracking). This Opinion article describes possible molecular mechanisms of neural tracking.

This Opinion article discusses the challenges in determining which genomic events in tumours are actionable and thus expected to affect treatment response. The authors summarize published classification approaches and propose a new framework to classify mutation actionability in early-phase clinical trials.

The incidence of many cancer types in non-reproductive tissues is higher in males than in females. This Opinion article discusses the cellular and molecular differences between the two sexes that might contribute to this discrepancy.

Current cancer therapies exert selective pressures that drive the evolution of drug-resistant clones. In this Opinion article, the authors argue that induction of stable tumour reversion represents an alternative strategy that could reduce resistance and thus effectively and durably treat cancer.

This Opinion article discusses the opportunities and challenges for 'precision mouse modelling', including the proposed essential criteria of mouse models for prevention research, representative success stories and opportunities for improved analyses in future studies of precision cancer prevention.

This Opinion article summarizes the evidence supporting the use of aspirin to prevent colorectal cancer. By considering the pathways that mediate the anticancer effects of aspirin, the authors evaluate potential biomarkers that may enable a precision medicine approach to aspirin chemoprevention.

The development of therapeutic approaches that target BRCA-mutant tumours has led to the possibility of expanding the range of patients who may benefit from such strategies. Tumours with 'BRCAness', a similar phenotype to germline BRCA-mutant tumours, are increasingly being identified, and this Opinion article discusses the advances and challenges in this context.