Renuka Iyer, MD, named new Chief Medical Officer for National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN)
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Updates every hour. Last Updated: 29-Dec-2025 09:11 ET (29-Dec-2025 14:11 GMT/UTC)
A study from the Hospital del Mar Research Institute, published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation, indicates that the high expression of the estrogen receptor is the main factor preventing the most common type of breast cancer, luminal breast cancer, from responding to immunotherapy.
The high presence of the estrogen receptor sequesters the LCOR molecule, whose action on tumor cells is necessary to make tumors visible to the immune system. In experimental models, the researchers found that combining immunotherapy with endocrine therapy allows LCOR to function and the immune system to attack the tumor.
At the same time, they have generated a modified version of the LCOR molecule that sensitizes tumors to immunotherapy, including those with hormone receptors. The next goal is to study this molecule combined with immunotherapy in clinical trials.
Nicotine addiction remains one of the most persistent global health challenges, yet the cellular mechanisms underlying it are less explored. Now, researchers have discovered that astrocytes, glial cells in the brain thought to play only a passive role, actively contribute to the brain changes triggered by repeated nicotine exposure. The findings provide insights into nicotine-induced changes in the brain by an enzyme that regulates a key glutamate-related pathway linked to sensitized behavior.