Although treatment outcomes have improved in metastatic melanoma since the use of immune checkpoint blockade (ICB), it still remains a medical challenge. Melanoma cells are thought to adapt several phenotypic states, such as mesenchymal-like state (MES), which may modulate their sensitivity to therapy. An international team of researchers has now investigated the mechanisms behind melanoma cells’ resistance to ICB.
Radiotherapy resistance and metastasis are among the top risk factors for refractory oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), the mechanisms of which must be elucidated, plus there is a lack of biomarkers to predict response.
Protein-arginine deiminase type-4 (PAD4) protein contributes to the formation of neutrophil extranuclear traps (NETs), which in turn lead to tumor growth and cancer immune escape that favors metastatic disease. The expression of PAD4 in certain types of cells, such as hematopoietic stem cells, makes the strategy of PAD4 inhibition risky due to adverse side effects.
Long bones, vertebrae and skull bones have distinct types of stem cells, and new insights into those stem cells could lead to new ways to treat both rare developmental disorders of skull formation and the all-too-common phenomenon of bone metastases. Scientifically, the work, which was published in two papers by Matthew Greenblatt and colleagues in Nature, adds to the increasing understanding of bone’s complexities. “Bone may serve as an endocrine organ that is secreting factors throughout the body,” Greenblatt said.
A Spanish study led by scientists from the Cajal Institute and the National Center of Oncological Research (CNIO) combined the power of artificial neural networks and biological neuronal circuits to identify abnormal brain activity produced by secondary metastases in the CNS and classify these tumors. The work, published online on Aug. 30, 2023, in Cancer Cell, showed how damage in the brain did not depend on the tumor size but on the effect it produced on neuronal circuits, interrupting cell communication.
Researchers from Kunming University of Science and Technology and affiliated organizations presented discovery and preclinical evaluation of a novel salinomycin derivative, SAL-98, as a potential therapeutic candidate for the treatment of cancer.
On the heels of a licensing deal last week, Genequantum Healthcare Co. Ltd. has struck another deal, this time out-licensing its conjugation technology to Inxmed Co. Ltd. to support development of next-generation targeted antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs).
Interactions between the gut microbiome and immune system influence cancer immune surveillance, though the mechanism through which these gut-primed immune cells regulate peripheral antitumor immune response is not well understood. Now, two recent studies in Science and Science Immunology using mouse models and human tissue samples have highlighted a group of intestinal T cells with the gut-homing α4β7 integrin receptors that play a critical role in mediating response to immune checkpoint blockade cancer immunotherapy.
By interfering with mitochondrial plasticity, researchers have succeeded in attenuating brain metastases of HER2-expressing breast tumors. The authors wrote that their findings “highlight targeting mitochondrial dynamics is a viable therapeutic opportunity to limit both brain tumors and metastasis.”
