Reviews & Analysis

Twelve early-career investigators share their thoughts on the experiences they had starting their laboratories in 2023 and reflect on the opportunities they seized and the challenges they faced.

Transmissible cancer affects marine bivalve mollusks worldwide, but how genetic mechanisms influence cancer evolution and disease spread remains largely unexplored. Two new studies provide insights into the ancient origin of founder clones and the long-term tolerance of contagious cancer cells to extreme genome instability.

Chimeric antigen receptor T cells and T cell-redirecting bispecific antibody therapies are changing the landscape of myeloma therapy. Two studies investigate the genetic and epigenetic resistance mechanisms that lead to relapse in patients receiving T cell-engaging therapies targeting B cell maturation antigen (BCMA) and GPRC5D.

Certain cancers disrupt metabolism, leading to the wasting syndrome known as cachexia. How tumor-induced mediators of cachexia induce changes in end organs is unclear. A study implicates the endothelium as an amplifier of tumor signals in fat, in which NOTCH1 promotes adipose tissue remodeling via retinoic acid, IL-33 and IGFBP3.

The nervous system regulates cancer progression, and the importance of neuron–glioma communication in tumor growth is evident in glioblastoma. This tumor-promoting communication presents a potential therapeutic axis, a concept reinforced by a study that identifies a specific potassium channel complex as a therapeutic target.

The development of immunotherapies for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) has been limited by a lack of known tumor-specific targets. A study now shows the feasibility of developing highly sensitive and selective T cell-receptor-based therapies against an HLA-A*02:01-associated peptide derived from a recurrent mutation in a subset of patients with AML.

Jaffray and co-authors discuss progress in radiotherapy that has been driven by technological advances and ways to enable broad access to innovative radiation-based treatment modalities by aligning individualized therapy with global access needs.

We sought to develop a pharmacologically advanced inhibitor of the oncoprotein RET. Vepafestinib potently inhibited on-target mutants that confer resistance to approved RET inhibitors while exerting superior efficacy against intracranial disease due to enhanced penetration and retention in the brain.

Resected pancreatic cancer treated pre-operatively with chemotherapy is enriched for cells that co-express GATA6, KRT17 and CYP3A. Persistent expression of GATA6^hi and KRT17^hi is associated with poor survival after treatment with mFOLFIRINOX, but not gemcitabine. CYP3A-expressing drug detoxification pathways metabolize the prodrug irinotecan, a constituent of mFOLFIRINOX, leading to persistent drug tolerance.

Immunosuppressive myeloid cells, which are associated with resistance to anti-PD1 therapy in patients with glioblastoma, have high expression of KDM6B, an epigenetic enzyme. Deletion or inhibition of KDM6B reprograms the myeloid cells to an immunostimulatory phenotype and thereby overcomes resistance to anti-PD1 therapy in preclinical models of glioblastoma.

In this Review, Konstantinopoulos and Matulonis discuss recent clinical advances in the treatment of ovarian cancer and reflect on persisting challenges.

The recent design of mutation-selective KRAS inhibitors has led to US Food and Drug Administration approval of two inhibitors of KRAS(G12C), sotorasib and adagrasib. A study published in Nature reports the development of a first-in-class pan-KRAS-selective inhibitor. Here we comment on the current status of KRAS-targeting approaches.

The advantage of genomic monitoring over cytogenetics for clinical assessment of leukemia is illustrated by a case of pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia in which a lesion underlying lethal end-stage myeloid disease could be detected by whole-genome sequencing years before the risk manifested cytogenetically.

Treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) has improved the survival of patients with metastatic melanoma. However, although ICIs are promising for achieving lasting clinical responses, only a subset of patients receive substantial benefit. Our results suggest that the IL-17 pathway supports the response of melanoma to dual ICI therapy and might represent a biomarker for patient stratification.

This study reveals the previously underappreciated roles of CD25 (IL-2 receptor subunit-α) in IL-2 biology and cancer immunotherapy and provides mechanistic insights into the rational design of more-effective IL-2-based therapeutic agents for cancer treatment.

CD8⁺ T cells recognize tumor-associated antigens presented by major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecules. How CD8⁺ T cells eliminate cancer cells deficient in MHC class I has been unclear. A study now shows that adaptive CD8⁺ T cell activation induces expression of the innate receptor NKG2D for the elimination of MHC class I–deficient tumors.

Blanpain and colleagues review the current knowledge on cancer cell plasticity and its impact on tumor initiation and progression, the metastatic cascade and resistance to therapy.

Sears and colleagues discuss the latest advances in the understanding of host and microbiota mechanisms involved in the relationship between the microbiome and cancer and emerging avenues for applying these insights to cancer therapy.

Glioblastoma is an aggressive brain tumor with a highly immunosuppressive environment that responds poorly to immune checkpoint inhibitors. A study shows that SIGLEC9⁺ monocyte-derived macrophages are enriched in glioblastomas that do not respond to immune checkpoint inhibitors, and targeting this receptor synergizes with immunotherapy.

Pathological diagnosis relies on morphological assessment of tissue using histological staining and molecular phenotyping through immunostaining that must be performed on separate tissue sections. Orion is a newly reported methodology that facilitates multiplexed immunostaining with histological staining on the same slide.