In the current landscape of cancer research, much attention is focused on the tumor microenvironment (TME) at both the primary site and established metastases. However, the early micrometastatic niche remains poorly understood. Researchers from the Hospital del Mar Research Institute (HMRI) have pinpointed T cell immunoglobulin and mucin domain 3 (TIM3) as a key vulnerability in tumor micrometastasis, revealing a new target to halt metastatic progression at its origin.

Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and collaborators have developed a new method to label and monitor dormant breast cancer cells over time, shedding light on how these cells survive chemotherapy and potentially trigger metastatic relapse in the lung. Breast cancer frequently recurs in distant metastatic sites, even after the primary tumor has fully regressed following initial therapy.

At the Annual Congress of the European Association for Cancer Research (EACR) in Lisbon, multiple sessions aimed to provide fresh perspectives on the always challenging treatment of cancer, with a strong focus on innovative strategies.

Among the presentations included in the Top Abstracts category at the recently inaugurated Annual Congress of the European Association for Cancer Research (EACR) in Lisbon, it is worth highlighting two that respectively addressed the role of cytokines and lipid-sensing receptors as key modulators of the tumor microenvironment, a central theme in current cancer research.

Researchers from the University of Arizona have unveiled that coordinated Y chromosome loss in both cancer cells and immune cells may explain the worse prognosis in people with this alteration. The loss of the Y chromosome (LOY) is one of the most frequent somatic mutations in men, particularly with advancing age. Investigating the mechanisms and effects of LOY in peripheral blood mononuclear cells and its association with immune and tumor cells, they “found a relationship between the Y chromosome loss in normal cells inside the tumor and the Y chromosome loss inside the cancer cell,” Dan Theodorescu, senior author of the study, told BioWorld.

Researchers from the University of Arizona have unveiled that coordinated Y chromosome loss in both cancer cells and immune cells may explain the worse prognosis in people with this alteration. The loss of the Y chromosome is one of the most frequent somatic mutations in men, particularly with advancing age.

Researchers from the University of Arizona have unveiled that coordinated Y chromosome loss in both cancer cells and immune cells may explain the worse prognosis in people with this alteration. The loss of the Y chromosome (LOY) is one of the most frequent somatic mutations in men, particularly with advancing age. Investigating the mechanisms and effects of LOY in PBMCs and its association with immune and tumor cells, they “found a relationship between the Y chromosome loss in normal cells inside the tumor and the Y chromosome loss inside the cancer cell,” Dan Theodorescu, senior author of the study, told BioWorld.

Researchers at the University of Michigan designed an optimized viral protein able to boost the antitumor function of T cells. The project stemmed from observations on the particular system employed by Herpesvirus saimiri to infect T cells and hijack cellular pathways by activating them.

Researchers at the University of Chicago have shed light on the role of tumor-promoting factors induced by radiotherapy and their potential impact on future therapeutic strategies. The article, published in Nature on May 14, 2025, points to radiation-induced amphiregulin as a key driver of tumor metastasis.

Researchers from Trinity College Dublin, Princeton University and collaborators have discovered that blocking the uptake of lipids by immune cells within the ascites microenvironment could reshape treatment for advanced ovarian cancer.