Researchers have discovered that inhibiting CDK9, a DNA transcription regulator, reactivates genes that have been epigenetically silenced by cancer. Reactivation leads to restored tumor suppressor gene expression and enhanced anti-cancer immunity. It is the first time this particular kinase has been linked to gene silencing in mammals.

Researchers at the Wellcome Sanger Institute have created the first comprehensive summary of all genes known to be involved in human cancer, the "Cancer Gene Census". Describing all genes strongly implicated in causing cancer, the Census also describes how they function across all forms of this disease. Reported in Nature Reviews Cancer, the resource catalogues over 700 genes, to help scientists understand the causes of cancers, find drug targets and design treatments.

Immunotherapy with nivolumab and low-dose ipilimumab could become a new first line treatment in patients with some metastatic colorectal cancers following late-breaking results from the CheckMate-142 trial reported at the ESMO 2018 Congress in Munich. (1) The drug combination shrank tumours and had beneficial effects on survival in patients with microsatellite instabiliy (MSI)-high metastatic colorectal cancer.

A new study has shown that eating vegetable nitrates, found mainly in green leafy vegetables and beetroot, could help reduce your risk of developing early-stage age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Researchers at the Westmead Institute for Medical Research interviewed more than 2,000 Australian adults aged over 49 and followed them over a 15-year period.

Nearly 1 in 4 patients with advanced cancer, treated at Comprehensive Cancer Care Network (NCCN) centres in the US, are receiving innovative drugs matched to DNA mutations in their tumours. This achievement, to be reported at the ESMO 2018 Congress in Munich,(1) shows that cutting-edge precision medicine is spreading from highly specialist cancer units to other healthcare facilities so more patients can benefit, wherever they are treated.

Omega-3 fatty acids, such as those typically contained in fish oil, may suppress the growth and spread of breast cancer cells in mice. This is according to a new study in the journal Clinical & Experimental Metastasis, which is published under the Springer imprint. According to lead author, Saraswoti Khadge of the University of Nebraska Medical Centre in the US, fatty acids stopped further delayed tumors from forming, and

CDK1 is a "normal" protein - its presence drives cells through the cycle of replication. And MHC Class I molecules are "normal" as well - they present bits of proteins on the surfaces of cells for examination by the immune system. But a University of Colorado Cancer Center study published in the journal Cancer Research shows that a population of cancer cells marked by MHC Class I molecules and high CDK1 is anything but normal.