Cells have a mailing system of sorts. They can release tiny molecular balls, called extracellular vesicles (EVs), that contain biological matter or messages and attach to other cells to share whatever they contain. In cancer, EVs often depart from tumor cells to seed the cancer elsewhere in the body, leading to metastasis. However, how the EVs connected to recipient cells to deliver their payload has remained a mystery — until now. A team of researchers based in Japan has revealed the molecular mechanisms underpinning the process for small EVs (sEVs), which they said could have implications for developing better cancer treatments.

Pennington Biomedical Research Center is pleased to announce the arrival of Dr. Adithya Hari, MD, as Assistant Professor and Physician/Nuclear Oncologist in the Division of Clinical Science, effective April 21. Dr. Hari’s recruitment represents a strategic expansion of Pennington Biomedical’s research capacity in cancer metabolism and nuclear medicine and was a collaborative effort involving Pennington Biomedical partners Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center, Louisiana Cancer Research Center, and LSU Health New Orleans.

Ferroptosis, a form of programmed cell death mediated by iron, has been a focus for its potential in cancer therapies. Now, researchers have discovered that lysosomal lipid peroxidation plays a critical role in the execution of ferroptosis. They also showed that this leads to iron leakage from the lysosome, further promoting ferroptosis. Additionally, administration of chloroquine—a drug that promotes lysosomal membrane damage—facilitates ferroptosis in cancer cells that are less sensitive to the process.

Tumor-treating fields (TTFields) therapy and chemoradiation therapy (CRT) may have significant anti-tumor efficacy in patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma (ndGBM). This retrospective study provides insights on the clinical outcomes of using concurrent TTFields with or without CRT to treat patients with ndGBM in China. The researchers report that concurrent CRT and TTFields offer a safe treatment strategy for ndGBM, but the potential benefits need to be further evaluated using large-scale clinical trials.

Cancer scientists engineer a new type of antibody which could be used to boost the immune systems of patients fighting disease.

Osaka Metropolitan University-led researchers verified the therapeutic effects of plasma-activated medium on synovial sarcoma, a rare type of cancer.