298 papers
Cancer biology explores the complex ways cells grow out of control, investigating the genetic mutations and environmental factors that drive tumor formation. This field seeks to understand how healthy cells transform into malignant ones and how these rogue cells spread throughout the body. By decoding these fundamental mechanisms, researchers aim to develop more effective treatments that target the disease at its source while sparing healthy tissue.
At Gist.Science, we process every new preprint published in this category directly from bioRxiv to ensure you stay ahead of the curve. Our team provides both accessible plain-language overviews and detailed technical summaries for each study, bridging the gap between raw research data and practical understanding. Whether you are a specialist or a curious reader, our goal is to make these critical findings clear and actionable.
Below are the latest papers in cancer biology, offering fresh insights into the ongoing fight against this disease.
This study presents a tunable 2D polyacrylamide hydrogel platform that independently controls substrate stiffness and adhesive ligand composition to demonstrate how mechanical stiffening drives acinar-to-ductal metaplasia in pancreatic cells while specific matrix cues modulate the resulting phenotypic plasticity.
This study demonstrates that dietary restriction of serine and glycine delays cancer-associated cachexia in mice by inducing host-driven metabolic reprogramming that reduces oxidative lipid stress and systemic inflammation, thereby preserving adipose tissue independent of tumor growth.
This study reveals that field cancerization in head and neck cancer is driven not by shared driver mutations between tumors and adjacent normal tissue, but by a fundamental dysregulation of epithelial differentiation architecture that creates a histologically normal yet molecularly primed environment for tumor recurrence.
Trastuzumab deruxtecan demonstrates significant efficacy against melanoma in vivo through a HER2-independent mechanism driven by extracellular cathepsin L-mediated linker cleavage and payload release, rather than direct HER2 targeting or internalization.
This paper introduces a three-dimensional imaging pipeline using light-sheet microscopy and fluorescently labeled tomato lectin to definitively detect and confirm the functionality of vasculogenic mimicry vessels across multiple mouse tumor models, overcoming the limitations of traditional two-dimensional histological methods.
By integrating multi-omic and spatial profiling of head and neck adenoid cystic carcinoma, this study reveals that aggressive disease is driven by a specific MYC/E2F-driven luminal tumor state arising from a shared myoepithelial origin, enabling the development of a robust four-gene classifier for improved risk stratification.
This study demonstrates that in cancer cachexia, altered tryptophan metabolism drives behavioral dysfunction and anorexia through serotonin depletion and kynurenine accumulation, but does not cause the lethal systemic wasting or affect tumor burden and survival.
This systematic review demonstrates that single-cell sequencing provides critical mechanistic insights into clonal evolution, chemoresistance, and immune dynamics in pediatric acute leukemia, offering promising biomarkers for risk stratification and therapy optimization while highlighting the need for larger, prospective studies before clinical adoption.
This study utilizes CRISPR-Cas9 editing of five myeloid lectins in primary human monocytes to demonstrate that disrupting specific lectin-tumor glycan interactions in tumor-associated macrophages induces target-dependent transcriptional remodeling characterized by distinct immunometabolic reprogramming rather than uniform pro-inflammatory polarization.
This study identifies EPHA4 as a critical regulator in triple-negative breast cancer that promotes the transition from hybrid epithelial/mesenchymal states to highly invasive mesenchymal states, thereby explaining its high expression in primary tumors and reduced levels in secondary metastases.