cancer-biology

On 26 April, a sun-drenched country hotel in East Sussex set the stage for an intensive three-day workshop that brought together 30 leading metabolism researchers across cell biology, mitochondrial biology, developmental biology, cancer biology and systems biology. Organised by Lydia Finley and Wilhelm Palm, the meeting provided a forum for sharing unpublished findings, assessing the [...] The po…

Nature Cell Biology, Published online: 14 August 2026; doi:10.1038/s41556-026-02048-x Kim et al. demonstrate a non-canonical function for EZH2 in modulating cholesterol metabolism and tumour development by interacting with SREBP2, which may be targeted by PROTACs to disrupt its oncogenic activity.

Nature Cell Biology, Published online: 14 August 2026; doi:10.1038/s41556-026-02036-1 Metabolic adaptation functions as an important selective bottleneck during tumour development. A study reveals that in response to glucose starvation, a metabolite from the TCA cycle is leveraged to enhance translation of the transcription factor NRF2, providing a critical adaptive response against disulfidptosi…

Prostate cancer (PCa) is a highly prevalent malignancy, heavily characterized by complex cellular heterogeneity and highly variable clinical outcomes.

A comprehensive new review article highlights the growing importance of the MYH9 gene as a central player in both cancer biology and inherited genetic conditions, offering fresh perspectives on its potential as a therapeutic target.

Nature Communications, Published online: 18 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41467-026-74539-2 How metastatic progenitor cells emerge and persist remains to be understood. Here the authors show that in lung adenocarcinoma progenitors, the cell adhesion molecule L1CAM drives SOX2 expression via the planar cell polarity complex to sustain regenerative and metastatic capacity.

This study reports the green synthesis, characterization, and cytotoxic evaluation of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles. ZnO nanoparticles have been synthesized using 3 mL of waste peel extracted from Allium cepa (onion) and designated as O3. Comprehensive characterization has been performed using XRD, UV–Visible, FTIR, FESEM, HRTEM, DLS, and fluorescence spectroscopy. The UV–Visible spectrum exhibi…

Nature Communications, Published online: 16 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41467-026-73467-5 The extracellular matrix provides structure to tumor tissue and can act as a barrier to anti-tumor immunity. Here, the authors demonstrate that enzymatic modification of matrix glycans shapes T cell-macrophage interactions and reduces immunosuppression within triple-negative breast cancer tumors.

Nature Communications, Published online: 15 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41467-026-74435-9 Breast cancers with HER2 overexpression can vary in whether they also express the estrogen receptor, influencing tumor behavior and treatment response. Here, the authors show that in transgenic mouse models, the HER2Δ16 splice variant promotes the development of aggressive luminal tumors by facilitating luminal …

Nature Communications, Published online: 23 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41467-026-73380-x Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) classical and basal subtypes can interconvert. Here, the authors discover that ZNF274 loss drives a classical to basal transition in PDAC via suppression of ZEB1 and HERV-driven interferon signaling, increasing the sensitivity to CDK7 inhibition.

Nature Immunology, Published online: 20 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41590-026-02512-8 Dong, Ray et al. identify salt-inducible kinases (SIKs) as potential drivers of T cell dysfunction in the immunosuppressive microenvironment of ovarian cancer.

Nature, Published online: 06 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10452-4 Multimodal machine learning reveals that tumour microenvironments can be decomposed into spatially organized multicellular ecosystems, termed spatial ecotypes, that can be accessed non-invasively via liquid biopsy and used to profile individual cancers and target treatments.

Activation of a specific part of the Dicer enzyme can change its shape in a way that affects its critical role in proper cell division, with implications for both cancer biology and fertility, according to researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Nature Communications, Published online: 15 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s41467-026-71972-1 Author Correction: A proteogenomic atlas of 1032 brain metastases identifies molecular subtypes, immune landscapes, and therapeutic vulnerabilities