​ The most common form of pancreatic cancer, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma is highly difficult to treat, with a five-year survival rate of only 8%. There is one therapeutic target that has led to encouraging preclinical results: inhibition of oncogenic KRAS, a mutation that is present in over 90% of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas. However, in mouse models of this disease, genetic extinction of oncogenic Kras has resulted in recurrence that no longer relies on the Kras oncogene. For this re...

​ Microsatellite instability (MSI), characteristic variations in the length of tandem nucleotide repeats across the genome, has been seen in a wide variety of cancers, including colon cancer, gastric cancer, endometrium cancer, ovarian cancer, hepatobiliary tract cancer, urinary tract cancer, brain cancer, and skin cancers. Researchers' discovery of the important role played by Werner syndrome helicase (WRN) in MSI-high (MSI-H) tumors presents a new opportunity for the development of targeted th...

​ Molecular targeted therapies such as trastuzumab, which targets the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), significantly improve outcomes for patients with cancer. However, these medications—particularly trastuzumab—can also result in cardiovascular side effects. Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have identified a key mechanism underlying trastuzumab-induced cardiac dysfunction in patients with HER2-positive breast cancer. In addition, they have found an exist...

Why is the liver the most common site of metastatic disease? Part of the reason may be that circulating tumor cells are trapped by the liver, which filters the blood coming from the digestive tract before it reaches the rest of the body. That is not the whole story, however. Metastasis to the liver depends on the formation of a "pro-metastatic niche," which creates the conditions that support the spread of tumor cells to the liver.  Until now, little has been known about the mechanisms behi...

​ Esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC), the most common type of esophageal cancer, is highly deadly, with only 20% of patients surviving five years from diagnosis. It is resistant to standard chemoradiotherapy treatments and has few targeted therapies. "Targeted therapies are virtually non-existent," remarked Kishore Guda, DVM, PhD, Associate Professor in the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center of Case Western Reserve University. "Treatment advancements are also slowed because we don't know exactly what...