A major step forward in cancer immunotherapy is emerging through the growing development of dendritic cell vaccines, a highly targeted approach designed to harness the body’s own immune system to fight tumors. These advanced therapies center on dendritic cells, which act as the body’s most powerful antigen-presenting cells, orchestrating immune responses by activating T cells and natural killer cells to recognize and destroy cancer.

A little-known protein encoded on the X chromosome is attracting growing attention for its potential role in cancer development and treatment. A new review highlights the expanding importance of CXorf67, an epigenetic regulator that influences gene activity, DNA repair processes, and tumor behavior across several malignancies, including aggressive brain tumors, osteosarcoma, lung cancer, endometrial stromal sarcoma, and Merkel cell carcinoma.

A growing body of evidence is highlighting the pivotal role of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in the progression of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the most common form of primary liver cancer. A new review brings together current knowledge on how these previously overlooked molecules are shaping the future of diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment in HBV-associated liver disease.

Heart attacks, strokes, and hip fractures are becoming less common. Meanwhile, cancer cases are increasing, and more people are surviving these severe diseases. A new study by the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR) and the Karolinska Institute examines how medical progress has impacted various diseases in Sweden.

Researchers have found a new way to trick cancer cells into consuming even more sugar than usual and, at the same time, block their backup fuel source—fat. By attacking both fuel sources at once, the experimental drug puts cancer cells under so much stress that many of them die. They demonstrated the drug’s effectiveness at treating an aggressive form of melanoma in mice.

A research team led by Professor Ruibang LUO, Assistant Director (Learning Experience & Student Enrichment) and Associate Head of the Department of AI & Data Science, School of Computing and Data Science (CDS), The University of Hong Kong (HKU), has developed ClairS—a novel deep-learning algorithm that significantly improves the detection of cancer mutations using long-read sequencing. Tested on breast cancer, lung cancer and melanoma cell-line datasets, ClairS has demonstrated exceptional accuracy across various cancer types and sequencing conditions.

Researchers from the Clinical Neuroscience Consortium (CNC), a collaborative platform jointly established by the LKS Faculty of Medicine of the University of Hong Kong (HKUMed) and Queen Mary Hospital, in collaboration with the Hong Kong Genome Institute (HKGI), have achieved a major breakthrough in brain cancer research by developing the most comprehensive map to date of isoform diversity in glioblastoma, the most common and aggressive form of brain cancer in adults. Using advanced long-read single-cell sequencing, the team uncovered thousands of previously unknown tumour-specific genetic isoforms that had remained invisible to conventional approaches. The discovery reveals a new source of potential therapeutic targets, including candidates that could be harnessed for future personalised cancer vaccines and immunotherapies. The findings were published in Nature Communications.