Despite advancements in cancer treatments, drug resistance continues to pose a significant challenge across a range of different therapeutic approaches. Now, new research from investigators at Kunming Medical University in China, published in Medcomm-Oncology, details the central role played by extracellular vesicles (EVs) in facilitating cancer drug resistance. The study…

A non-genetic adaptation that could drive resistance to targeted therapy in T cell leukemia has been uncovered by researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. Their findings were published recently in Molecular Cell. DNA must be folded just right for the cell to properly function. Genome misfolding is…

A team of investigators, led by scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) Cancer Center, have uncovered some of the underlying mechanisms that drive cancer drug resistance. While investigating the basis of “adaptive resistance” common to pancreatic cancer, the researchers discovered one of the backups to which these cells switch…

New mechanisms underlying a type of prostate drug resistance called lineage plasticity have been uncovered. This type of resistance emerges when cells in castration-resistant prostate cancers shift from a glandular to a neuroendocrine type, which can behave more like small cell lung cancer.  he new research finds that E2F1 and…

Targeting the genetic dependency Werner helicase (WRN) could open up treatment for drug resistant colorectal cancer (CRC), according to new research. The study used a large collection of colorectal cancer organoids with impaired mismatch DNA repair (60 unique models in total) and confirmed that inhibiting WRN using CRISPR reduced cancer…

The unfortunate reality for most cancer patients is that they will face resistance to one or more chemotherapeutic agents prescribed to eliminate their disease. Even more problematic, once a patient’s tumor is resistant to one type of chemotherapy, it is much more likely to be resistant to other chemotherapies as…

Scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) say they have found a way to tackle the problem of drug resistance and stop the growth of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) tumors in mice. Their findings (“Identification of Resistance Pathways Specific to Malignancy Using Organoid Models of Pancreatic Cancer”) are published in…

A new collaboration between IBM Watson Health and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard aims to shed new light on an old question: Why do some tumors resist drug treatment over time, while others don’t? The $50 million, five-year collaboration has set an ambitious goal of discovering the basis…

“Life finds a way,” is the famous line uttered by Jeff Goldblum’s character in the original Jurassic Park film. While the statement is true, it is also unfortunate when it applies to cancer cells. When a targeted therapy blocks a pathway that enables tumors to grow, the cancer cells usually…

Cancer cells undergo a cascade of increasingly adaptive cellular states as they undergo drug adaptation, according to research from the lab of Itai Yanai, PhD, at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine. This “resistance continuum” starts with initial sensitivity and ends with stable resistance, bookending a series of state transitions…

Too many cancer treatment approaches turn into a game of Whac-A-Mole in which genetic resistance among cancer cells becomes amplified. To play a new, more winnable game, researchers are using genetic circuits to realize evolution-guided anticancer therapies in which diverse forms of resistance are thwarted. Researchers at Penn State created…

Research led by the University of Basel shows that the antioxidant and dietary supplement N-acetylcysteine could help combat a type of drug resistance in breast cancer. The PI3K signaling pathway is commonly overactive in breast cancer patients due to genetic mutations. The approval of the PI3K inhibitor alpelisib by the…

Scientists at the University of Michigan have developed an anti-cancer drug that is absorbed through the gut’s lymphatic system potentially outmaneuvering the molecular signaling pathways that lead to drug resistance, while increasing cancer-fighting ability and reducing side effects. Their findings demonstrate that the kinase inhibitor significantly reduced disease, limited toxicity,…

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is notoriously difficult to treat because it lacks the receptors for estrogen, progesterone, and the growth factor HER2, all three of which can be targeted with effective cancer therapies. Standard chemotherapy regimens provide limited benefit against TNBC, and patients with metastatic disease have a poor prognosis…

The scientists from the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) and led by Kwang-meyung Kim, Ph.D., say they have created a new therapy that could prevent drug resistance by conjugating a drug that inhibits resistance against anticancer drugs (SMAC) and an anticancer agent (Doxorubicin) . The resulting drug remains…