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As the most common type of liver cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has become the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide, and HCC cases are increasing in the United States and worldwide. While chemotherapy, surgery, and liver transplants can help some patients, targeted therapies for HCC could save millions of lives.
T helper 17 cells (Th17) in the immune system are a type of CD4+ T cells that together help make antibodies, activate cells that engulf enemies, and recruit more soldiers to the battlefield. A new study focusing on Th17 cells shows that the shape and function of their mitochondria play an important role in autoimmune and inflammatory diseases such as multiple sclerosis. Understanding how mitochondria affect Th17 cells is important to understanding how to control their key. They identified several pathways that sought to influence the behavior of these cells, with the aim of suppressing their autoimmune activity.
Glioblastoma (GBM) is one of the most common primary malignant brain tumors in adults with a very aggressive clinical presentation. Treatment is also very challenging because its pathological mechanisms are among the most complex in brain tumors. Surgical options for glioblastoma have changed little over the past 30 years, and the 5-year survival rate for patients is only around 5%.
Cancer occurs when mutations in multiple genes make otherwise normal cells cancerous, and these mutations often accumulate over time, creating phenotypic diversity in a patient's tumor. Specific genetic alterations in specific cancer types are associated with prognosis, response or resistance to therapy, especially targeted therapy, and the propensity of tumors to acquire further mutations, among other phenotypes. However, inferring genotype-phenotype links in patients is challenging because any two tumors are too genetically different to isolate the effect of one or a few mutations. The ability to systematically link cancer-associated mutations or combinations thereof to their phenotypes will advance scientists' understanding of cancer pathogenesis and genetically related disease characteristics.
Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) remains difficult to treat because of high genetic heterogeneity not only between different patients but also between subclonal populations of cancer cells within the same patient. Despite advances in knowledge, understanding the metabolic signature of the cells that change in this disease is one of the scientific challenges in designing more effective therapies.
T cells are an important part of the body's immune system, helping not only to clear invading pathogens, such as viruses, but also to kill cancer cells.
Lung cancer is still the most common and deadly cancer in the world. Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is the deadliest type of lung cancer, accounting for about 15% of all lung cancer cases. SCLC is an aggressive high-grade neuroendocrine tumor characterized by short doubling time, rapid growth, and early metastasis and spread. Most SCLC patients develop resistance rapidly, and their 5-year survival rate is very low (5-6%), even when the initial response to standard chemotherapy is good. The addition of immune checkpoint inhibitors to conventional chemotherapy for small cell lung cancer is promising; however, their absolute long-term benefits are moderate. The complex mechanisms of widespread SCLC metastasis and recurrence need to be clarified to expand the long-lasting benefits of chemotherapy and immunotherapy to more patients.
In the body, there are thousands of cells mutated due to DNA errors lurking every day, and they all have the possibility of eventually causing cancer. Existing theories believe that cancer is caused by two types of gene mutations: mutations of proto-oncogenes and inactivation of tumor suppressor genes, however, not all genetic mutations cause cancer. Take the mole on the body as an example, gene mutations can cause the mole to become cancerous and form melanoma. It is worth noting that most moles will never become cancerous. Scientists have been working to unravel the reasons for this difference, and this problem has finally been overcome recently.
In a new study, researchers from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center discovered an Achilles’ heel of ovarian cancer and new biomarkers that may indicate which patients are the best candidates for potential new therapies. Related research results are published online in the Cell journal.
Recently, at the 2021 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting, researchers from the University of Sydney, Australia will announce the results of its RELATIVITY-047 trial. In this clinical trial, researchers discovered a new type of immune checkpoint Inhibitor that may effectively help save the lives of patients with malignant melanoma, and this breakthrough study may be extended to other cancer types.
