Topic: Cancer Research

Health & MedicineNovember 3, 2026

An innervated and vascularized HNSCC-on-a-chip model built on defined and tunable engineered extracellular matrices.

Understanding the tumor microenvironment requires experimental platforms that faithfully recapitulate its key components. Here, we present an innervated and vascularized head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC)-on-a-chip platform built with fully defined and tunable engineered extracellular matrices (eECMs). In a stepwise increase of complexity, we first cocultured patient-derived HNSCC cells, cancer-associated fibroblasts, and endothelial cells within tailored eECMs, revealing extracellula

EconomicsNovember 3, 2026

A glycan superbinder reveals polysialylated-CD56 as a precision biomarker for pancreatic cancer.

Pancreatic cancer remains one of the most lethal malignancies, largely due to the lack of reliable biomarkers for early detection. Aberrant glycosylation presents a promising source of diagnostic signatures, yet polysialic acid (polySia), a distinctive glycan, has remained underexplored, primarily owing to limitations in detection methods and recognition tools. Here, we report the development of a polySia "superbinder," a nanoscale molecularly imprinted polymer (nanoMIP) that exhibits superior s

Health & MedicineNovember 3, 2026

DCAF6 reprograms TGF-β responses through TRIM33 destruction.

TGF-β signaling plays a pivotal role in regulating numerous cellular processes, primarily through the Smad-dependent pathway. Disruptions of the pathway are associated with developmental disorders and life-threatening diseases, such as cancer. It has been reported that TRIM33 inactivates Smad4 signaling and also drives its own signaling responses. However, the mechanism controlling TRIM33 activity has remained unclear. In this study, we identify DCAF6 as a previously unrecognized ubiquitin

Health & MedicineOctober 31, 2026

A global men's health epidemiology within an intersectional framework.

Males have lower life expectancies and greater disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) than females, and particularly poor outcomes are seen among males in marginalised contexts. In this paper, we provide an epidemiological overview and highlight the intersectional nature of men's health. We analyse mortality and DALYs data from the 1990-2023 Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Studies to illustrate our intersectional framework and draw attention to how health varies in men and

Health & MedicineOctober 29, 2026

Stimulated protein degradation to promote mitochondrial function and neuronal survival.

Targeted protein degradation is a promising modality to treat cancer or inflammation, but whether it can provide a similar benefit for disorders caused by pervasive protein dysregulation is unclear. We describe stimulated protein degradation (SPD) as a strategy that leverages agonists of stress-responsive E3 ubiquitin ligases to simultaneously eliminate multiple pathogenic factors. Specifically, we show that activators of the reductive stress response E3 CUL2 FEM1B boost degradation of multiple

Health & MedicineOctober 27, 2026

Identification and characterization of neoplastic cells in keratin-positive giant cell-rich tumors.

Keratin-positive giant cell-rich tumor (KPGCT) is a newly described bone and soft tissue tumor. The tumor is characterized by scattered keratin-positive cells and the presence of HMGA2::NCOR2 fusions. It is not known if the HMGA2::NCOR2 fusion is located in the keratin-positive cells, and little is known about how KPGCT develops. KPGCT shares some histologic features with tenosynovial giant cell tumor (TGCT), a soft tissue tumor with CSF1 rearrangements. Single-nuclei RNA sequencing and Xenium s

Health & MedicineOctober 27, 2026

PLD1-driven oncogenic secretion creates a therapeutic vulnerability in chromosome 3q-amplified NSCLC.

Chromosome 3q (3q) amplification is a frequent event in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and other cancer types, yet therapeutic strategies targeting oncogenic drivers within this amplicon have been unsuccessful. Our study revealed that the 3q amplicon encodes multiple Golgi-related proteins, including Phospholipase D1 (PLD1), which catalyzes the production of a potential oncogenic lipid, phosphatidic acid. We found that PLD1 is highly expressed in 3q-amplified NSCLC (3q-NSCLC) and its enzymat

Health & MedicineOctober 27, 2026

PSF3 recruits Polθ to stalled replication forks to promote DNA repair.

DNA polymerase theta (Polθ) plays a pivotal role in the maintenance of stalled replication forks. However, little is known about how Polθ is recruited to the stalled forks. Here we show that PSF3, a member of GINS replicative complex, recruits Polθ to the stalled replication forks. Polθ, which is recruited by interacting with the C-terminal portion of PSF3, restarts the forks, exerts DNA double-strand break end-joining to repair the breaks resulting from collapsed forks i

EconomicsOctober 27, 2026

Meta-analysis of 990 EBV genomes identifies EBER2 SNP7048 and its interaction with HLA-A*11:01 driving nasopharyngeal carcinoma risk.

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a major health burden in East and Southeast Asia (SEA). While EBV infection is a primary driver, the specific viral strains responsible for NPC development and their interaction with host genetics across geographically diverse endemic regions remain poorly understood. We performed a whole-genome sequencing of 388 EBV isolates and matched host whole-exome sequencing in a Singaporean cohort. To define the global significance of these findings, we conducted a meta-