It’s time for researchers to reconsider the current paradigm of cancer as a genetic disease, argued Sui Huang from the Institute for Systems Biology, USA, and colleagues in a new essay published March 18^th in the open-access journal PLOS Biology.

Small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs) are non-coding RNA molecules whose role in gene regulation and their association with certain diseases, such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) or colorectal cancer, has only recently become known. The Fish Genetics Research Group of the Department of Genetics at ELTE has investigated in detail the temporal expression of snoRNAs in the genome of zebrafish, an important genetic model organism, and has also created an online database (snoDanio) for their interactive visualization.

A multicentre study led from Finland has shown that lymph node transfer is a viable treatment for the swelling in the affected limb, a condition known as lymphedema, after breast cancer surgery. However, an effective drug to improve the outcomes of the transfer treatment continues to be sought.