📄 Category

cancer biology

247 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.

📄 cancer biology

Initial tumor composition shapes resistance evolution and treatment outcomes in non-small cell lung cancer

This study demonstrates that in non-small cell lung cancer, the initial proportion of resistant cells critically determines the fitness consequences of resistance evolution and treatment efficacy, suggesting that personalized evolutionary therapy strategies should account for both the abundance and the dynamic fitness effects of resistant subpopulations rather than relying solely on maximum tolerated dosing.

Satouri, M., Brown, J. S., Rezaei, J., Stankova, K., Cavill, R.2026-09-01
📄 cancer biology

ZNF217-USP15 signaling loop regulates oncogenic phenotypes in ovarian cancer cells

This study identifies a reciprocal positive-feedback loop between the deubiquitinase USP15 and the oncogenic transcription factor ZNF217 that stabilizes ZNF217 to drive ovarian cancer progression and therapeutic resistance, suggesting that targeting USP15 offers a viable indirect strategy to suppress ZNF217-driven malignancies.

Ogunsanya, A., Alfaran, F., Basavarajaiah, S., Padmanabhan, A.2026-08-31
📄 cancer biology

Extracellular Vesicles Derived from L-MYC Neural Stem Cells Mediate Neuroprotection in 3D Models of Chemotherapy- and Radiation-Induced Neurotoxicity

This study demonstrates that a human 3D neural tissue model derived from L-Myc immortalized neural stem cells effectively recapitulates chemotherapy- and radiation-induced neurotoxicity, while showing that extracellular vesicles derived from these cells promote neuroprotection and restore transcriptional programs associated with inflammation, stress, and metabolism.

Nunes, L. G. A., Vasquez, I., Enright, B., Chen, L., Patel, S., Rockne, R. C., Yoon, S., Gutova, M.2026-08-28
📄 cancer biology

Sexual Dimorphism of Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts Governs Matrix and Vascular Organisation in Breast Cancer

This study demonstrates that cancer-associated fibroblasts in male breast cancer exhibit distinct transcriptional and functional profiles compared to those in females, leading to denser extracellular matrices and altered vascular organization, thereby highlighting the critical need to integrate biological sex into precision oncology strategies.

Liu, P., Saunders, F. R., Everest, M., Eiamampai, N., Humphries, M. P., Coulson-Gilmer, C., Conti, G., Stead, L. F., Abu (…)2026-08-28
📄 cancer biology

Novel Methylation Markers in a Prostate Cancer Cohort are Associated with Disease Development and Relapse

This study utilizes TruSeq methyl capture sequencing on the UK Prostate ICGC cohort to identify novel methylation-based molecular signatures—including patterns in driver genes, strand-specific methylation, and mitochondrial reads—that effectively distinguish cancerous from benign tissue and serve as independent predictors of prostate cancer relapse.

Lach, R. P., Pita, S., Leung, W.-K., Babbage, A., Merson, S., Hawkins, S., Luxton, H., Kay, J., Whitaker, H. C., Woodcoc (…)2026-08-27
📄 cancer biology

ABCB1-Mediated Drug Efflux Drives Resistance to VpreB1-Targeted Antibody-Drug Conjugates in B-cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia

This study identifies ABCB1-mediated drug efflux as the primary mechanism of resistance to VpreB1-targeted calicheamicin antibody-drug conjugates in B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia and demonstrates that this resistance can be overcome by combining the ADCs with ABCB1 inhibitors or by utilizing non-ABCB1 substrate payloads.

Williams, R. L., Wang, X., Ostergaard, J., Kang, J., Gohman, M., Lambert, L., Singleton, T., Tasian, S. K., Hilgers, M. (…)2026-08-26
📄 cancer biology

Tumor context determines ARID1A effects on gastric cancer immunity

This study demonstrates that the impact of ARID1A loss on gastric cancer immunity is not intrinsic but strictly determined by tumor context, as it drives immune evasion in vivo through GM-CSF suppression and interferon-gamma resistance in genomically stable subtypes, whereas in vitro deletion or loss in chromosomal instability subtypes fails to produce the same immune-cold phenotype.

Xiao, S., Heslin, R. T., Pettigrew, M. F., Karalis, J. D., Fatimah, N., Huang, S.-P., Cao, V., Burns, E., Kwon, L. Y., N (…)2026-08-22
📄 cancer biology

A first-in-class multimodal organomercury compound demonstrates preferential blast reduction with improved hematopoietic and immune health in ALL

The study demonstrates that a novel organomercury curcumin derivative, -Mercurin, outperforms the clinical standard cytarabine in an ALL rat model by effectively reducing leukemic blasts while simultaneously restoring hematopoietic and immune health with a superior safety profile and favorable pharmacokinetics.

Mondal, S., GHOSH, O., Bagchi, B., Jana, P., Maiti, B., Mukherjee, K. K., Ghosh, S.2026-08-21