About the Study: Among patients undergoing cancer surgery, waiting times to initiation of first-course therapy have steadily increased since 2012, particularly at high-volume academic centers and among patients referred for definitive care. With continued consolidation and expansion of health systems, system-level strategies are urgently needed to monitor and mitigate delays in the delivery of surgical care for cancer.

About the Study: In this Special Communication from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), authors examine consistent support for the study of obesity and cancer research. Authors reviewed grant data from fiscal years 2015 to 2022. While the data supports investment in a strong evidence base, authors flag multiple opportunities for advancing science. This includes funding for less studied areas, such as obesity’s impact on cancer treatment and survivorship, obesity and cancer throughout the lifespan, obesity and cancer disparities, and the study of obesity as it relates to multiple cancer sites. Additionally, as use of GLP-1 medications continues to expand, new opportunities may emerge to examine how intentional, pharmacologically induced weight loss may influence cancer risk, treatment response, and survivorship.

Study led by researchers at Mass General Brigham and Dana-Farber suggests that genetic testing added to routine newborn screening could identify some babies at increased risk of developing cancer before symptoms appear

A Case Western Reserve University–led research team is developing a noninvasive oral cancer test to help clinicians decide—chairside and within minutes— whether a suspicious lesion in the mouth needs a biopsy.

A study in the Chinese Medical Journal reveals that the mitochondrial protein RTN4IP1 drives triple-negative breast cancer metastasis by interacting with AK4, depleting NAD⁺, and disrupting glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation. RTN4IP1 knockdown suppresses metastatic outgrowth without affecting initial seeding. The findings identify RTN4IP1 and its interaction with AK4 as promising therapeutic targets for this aggressive cancer.

Researchers at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering and Keck School of Medicine of USC have engineered a remarkable genetic tool that addresses one of the most persistent obstacles in cancer immunotherapy: the physical softness of tumors. The work, detailed in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering, reveals how the soft environment of a tumor enables cancer cells to become “stealthy” and resistant to treatment, providing a powerful new mechanism to tag those evasive cells for destruction. The paper’s lead author, Jenny Yunjia Qu, a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Peter Yingxiao Wang, the Dwight C. and Hildagarde E. Baum Department Chair in the Alfred Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering, collaborated with the USC Viterbi and Keck School of Medicine teams to develop a technique that successfully targets hard-to-reach “cancer stem-like cells.” These cell types possess stem cell-like abilities, including self-renewal, which make them key drivers of tumor growth, drug resistance, and cancer recurrence. CAR T therapy has revolutionized the treatment of blood cancers, but it struggles against solid tumors. The Wang Lab team has demonstrated the critical role of the physical microenvironment of a tumor in the success of CAR T-cells, particularly when that microenvironment is soft. To address this immune evasion, the research team first needed a way to identify and track these evasive soft cells. They engineered a genetic tool called the Mechano-Recorder, which acts like a “black box” inside the cell. The tool records the level of mechanical softness the cell experiences. The researchers discovered that softer cancer cells displayed significantly higher intracellular calcium signaling. The Mechano-Recorder converts this transient calcium signal into a stable, long-lasting fluorescent signal, effectively barcoding these cells with their mechanical experience. The team then successfully used this recorder to show that soft environments specifically promote these recorder-positive cells, which exhibit stem-cell-like features, including markers associated with metastasis and hypoxia. The researchers then leveraged the Mechano-Recorder’s design for therapeutic action,  genetically reprogramming the system to convert the signature of soft, resistant cells into a targetable beacon for immune cell attack. Tested in breast cancer cell lines, patient-derived cells, and mouse models, the rewiring strategy successfully overcame the resistance of soft cancer stem-like cells. The results showed that these reprogrammed tumors, though softer, exhibited greater T-cell infiltration and enhanced killing efficacy.