Volume 19 Issue 9, September 2019

This Comment article argues that the future successes of rare cancer research will require alternative approaches for diagnosing, researching and conducting clinical trials, which will ultimately benefit patients with all types of cancer.

Zamora et al. challenge the assumption that paediatric acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL), a low mutational burden cancer, is immunogenically silent. The authors report that paediatric ALLs are, in fact, antigenically visible and elicit robust, albeit ineffective, antitumour CD8⁺ T cell responses.

Two studies provide complementary evidence demonstrating that both endogenous and exogenous antioxidants can induce stabilization of the transcriptional regulator BACH1 to promote lung cancer metastasis.

Buisson et al. show that some mutational hotspots might arise owing to the preference of a mutagen for a particular DNA secondary structure, therefore suggesting that these mutations are most likely passenger mutations masquerading as drivers.

Wang et al. investigated the early metabolic changes associated with Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) infection of B cells, which may have implications for EBV-driven lymphomas.

Three new studies sought to address some of the deficits of current CAR T cell therapies, such as limited efficacy against solid tumours, resistance through antigen loss and severe toxicities, with unique approaches.

Chew et al. demonstrate that re-expression of the early embryonic transcription factor DUX4 might contribute to mechanisms of immune evasion and resistance to immunotherapy in a broad range of cancer types.

In this Viewpoint, we have asked recipients of the Nature Awards for Mentoring in Science about their views on good mentoring, and how mentorship can help to achieve a positive research culture and contribute to scientific discovery in cancer research.

Co-occurring genomic alterations contribute to the heterogeneity of driver oncogene-defined non-small-cell lung cancer subgroups. This Review discusses the effects of co-mutations on the pathogenesis, biology, microenvironmental interactions and therapeutic vulnerabilities of non-small-cell lung cancer.

Endometrial cancer is histologically and molecularly complex, and effective clinical strategies for aggressive forms of the disease are needed. This Review discusses the identification and potential use of molecular features of endometrial cancer for early detection, treatment and risk stratification.

Human germ cell tumours are a heterogeneous group of neoplasms that occur in the gonads and extragonadal sites along the midline of the body. This Review outlines a developmental pathogenetic model for the origin of all germ cell tumours, which is based on the unscheduled reprogramming of cells of the early embryo and germ line.