Author: NewsCancer

The UK’s stem cell transplant system is potentially putting the lives of blood cancer patients at risk as a result of inadequate infrastructure and a lack of long-term planning, a parliamentary report has found.A hematopoietic stem cell transplant, often referred to as a bone marrow transplant, is a medical procedure in which stem cells from a healthy donor are transplanted into a patient.It can be a life-saving treatment for serious diseases such as blood cancer, blood disorders and some auto-immune conditions. About 4,000 stem cell transplants are performed in the UK each year.The report, by the all-party parliamentary group on…

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A woman with leukaemia calls for more mixed-race stem cell donors to join the register

The tumorigenesis and progression of conventional cervical squamous cell carcinoma generally follow a well-defined cascade: from normal cervix uteri to high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (precancer), cervical carcinoma in situ, and ultimately invasive cervical carcinoma. However, biomarkers and targets that reflect tumor evolution during CSCC progression at different time points within the same patient remain lacking. We integrated single-cell RNA sequencing with spatial transcriptomics from a series of human cervix uteri tissues spanning the cascade of cervical premalignant lesions and malignant progression obtained from the same patients. We found that fibroblasts and endothelial cells decreased, whereas immune cells (mainly T cells…

Scientists have identified a previously unknown mechanism that may be helping cancers evade the immune system. The discovery centers on SLAMF6, a molecule found on the surface of immune cells that can prevent T cells from mounting a strong attack against tumors. In experiments involving mice, researchers also developed a way to block its activity. The findings come from a team led by Dr. André Veillette, a medical professor at the Université de Montréal and director of the Molecular Oncology Research Unit at the Montreal Clinical Research Institute (IRCM), which is affiliated with UdeM. Their study was published in the…

Millions of people worldwide live with obstructive sleep apnea, a common disorder that repeatedly interrupts breathing during sleep. New research in mice suggests that gut microbes and the compounds they produce may play a surprising role in protecting against some of the condition’s most serious consequences, including heart disease. The findings, presented at ASM Microbe 2026, point to a potential new target for preventing and treating cardiovascular complications linked to sleep apnea. How Sleep Apnea Affects the Body Obstructive sleep apnea causes repeated pauses in breathing throughout the night. These interruptions reduce oxygen levels and increase carbon dioxide in the…

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) is a key component of the standard treatment regimen for patients with advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC); however, a substantial proportion of patients fail to benefit from NAC because of intrinsic or acquired chemoresistance, leading to disease progression. Aberrant promoter methylation of tumor suppressor genes has been implicated in the diminished chemotherapy response in patients with ESCC. In this study, we show that hypermethylation of the CpG island of the T-box Transcription Factor 1 (TBX1) promoter is frequently associated with nonresponse to NAC in patients with ESCC. Functional experiments indicate that TBX1 suppresses ESCC cell proliferation,…

Some men in England with the disease will now be offered an advanced form of treatment on the NHS.

BackgroundBreast cancer is a heterogeneous disease driven by diverse somatic alterations that impact tumor biology and treatment response. Although tissue-based genomic profiling is the standard, it is invasive and limited by tumor accessibility and sampling constraints, potentially leading to delays in prompt results. Liquid biopsy using circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) offers a minimally invasive alternative for detecting actionable mutations and copy number changes, providing real-time insights into tumor evolution and resistance. Additionally, in advanced breast cancer, clinical guidelines recommend molecular profiling through liquid biopsy, particularly for identifying resistant alterations such as ESR1 and PIK3CA, PTEN, AKT for therapeutic implications in…

BackgroundOncogenic PIK3CA mutations constitutively activate PI3Kα and drive approximately 40% of hormone receptor–positive (HR+)/HER2-negative (HER2–) breast cancer; however, the toxicity (hyperglycemia, rash, diarrhea, stomatitis) of non-selective inhibitors limits their tolerability and efficacy. Zovegalisib is the first oral, pan-mutant-selective, allosteric PI3Kα inhibitor designed to overcome these limitations. We report efficacy and safety of zovegalisib plus standard-dose fulvestrant in patients with PIK3CA-mutant, HR+/HER2– breast cancer treated in the first-in-human study, ReDiscover (NCT05216432).MethodsPreviously treated adult patients with advanced HR+/HER2– breast cancer and PIK3CA mutation per local assessment were eligible. Patients were eligible to enroll with measurable or non-measurable disease. Key objectives were investigator-assessed…