Articles in 2021

This Perspective proposes that data from multiple modalities, including molecular diagnostics, radiological and histological imaging and codified clinical data, should be integrated by multimodal machine learning models to advance the prognosis and treatment management of patients with cancer.

BH3-mimetic drugs have been designed to directly induce apoptosis in cancer cells by targeting prosurvival BCL-2 family proteins. This Review discusses their continued development and the challenges arising from their implementation in the clinic, such as resistance or on-target toxic effects, and the approaches that could be harnessed to overcome these obstacles.

In this Journal Club, Robert L. Copeland and Yasmine Kanaan discuss a paper that reports how ERβ and IGF2 signalling may contribute to the heterogeneity of triple-negative breast cancer observed in patients with different ancestries in the USA.

Two recent studies have found that both the adaptive immune system and inflammation can drive the selection of cells carrying mutations that facilitate tumour initiation.

In an effort to bring to our pages some of the vibrant discussion of cancer research that happens during in-person or online journal club meetings, we are now publishing Journal Clubs — an article type in which researchers discuss research papers of their choice with the intention of alerting our readers to articles that have a special significance to them and the field.

This Review discusses the bone microenvironment and its impact on bone metastasis, defining a roadmap of the cancer cell journey through bone relative to various microenvironment components and in different cancer types as well as providing insight into new therapeutic targets.

This review discusses the immunosuppressive and tumour-promoting properties of microglia, monocyte-derived macrophage and astrocyte subsets in the brain tumour microenvironment, identifying new therapeutic opportunities for primary brain tumours and brain metastases.

This issue marks the 20th anniversary of Nature Reviews Cancer. On this milestone birthday we both look back on the past 20 years of cancer research and look forward to the future.

This Review discusses the genomic evolution of Barrett’s oesophagus, which can sometimes progress to oesophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC). Understanding this evolution should improve early detection of EAC and may provide clues for the evolution of cancer more broadly.

In this Viewpoint article, we asked four experts to share their thoughts on the implementation of artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques into cancer research and care, and how to separate the hope from the hype to overcome the challenges ahead.

In this Journal Club, Brian Rivers highlights a study aimed at enhancing the participation of African American patients in cancer clinical trials.

Using zebrafish and human pluripotent stem cell-derived models of melanoma, Baggiolini, Callahan et al. demonstrate that cells expressing progenitor-like programmes and specific chromatin-modifying enzymes are more readily transformed by BRAF^V600E.

Oren et al. developed a lentiviral barcode library, called Watermelon, to characterize the rare population of cycling persister cancer cells that arise during the course of drug treatment and promote tumour relapse.

Preclinical studies indicate that stress can promote tumour progression. However, in humans, stress-reducing interventions have yielded mixed effects on cancer mortality. This Review discusses multiple mechanisms identified in preclinical and clinical studies, and strategies to better study stress-reducing interventions clinically

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.

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

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.

This Review discusses mechanistic links between fatty acid metabolism in cancer cells and disease behaviour and therapy resistance, integrating obesity-associated changes that modify cancer cell behaviour.

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.