Volume 21 Issue 10, October 2021

Significant gaps in access to care have shifted the burden of cervical cancer disease to resource-poor countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The recent World Health Organization’s Call to Action to eliminate cervical cancer is a unique opportunity to galvanize change and remove barriers to prevention and care.

A systematic approach to understanding the noncoding genome in cancer promises to improve cancer diagnosis and therapy. New technologies and bold therapeutic approaches are paving the way to truly envisage personalized cancer medicine in the future.

Haas et al. show that acquired resistance to a targeted therapy can result in cross-resistance to immunotherapy through the induction of an immune-evasive microenvironment.

Shiao et al. demonstrate that commensal bacteria and fungi have opposing roles to play in the responses of tumours to radiotherapy.

Sartori et al. show that disruption of BMP pathway activation is involved in promoting cancer cachexia.

Berta et al. show that epigenetic remodelling promotes the development of uterine fibroids.

Based on a virtual discussion during the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) 2020 Annual Meeting, we asked several scientists actively working to improve representation of Black American populations in cancer research how they are addressing these issues.

Mutational signatures can provide insights into the origins and vulnerabilities of specific cancers, and have potential for clinical utility. This Review highlights recent developments in the field, providing insights into practical issues and challenges in mutational signature analysis.

The development of small-molecule degraders such as proteolysis-targeting chimeras (PROTACs) has made it possible to target oncoproteins previously considered undruggable. This Review discusses recent advances in the field, with a focus on opportunities and challenges for future development.

Synthetic biomarkers are an emerging class of diagnostics that amplify disease signals for sensitive and specific detection of early-stage cancers. This Review discusses the rationale and design of biofluid-based synthetic biomarkers as well as translational challenges and future directions.

This Perspective discusses the main themes in cancer metabolism research that are currently under investigation in the context of in vivo tumour metabolism, specifically emphasizing emerging aspects and questions that remain unanswered.