In both leukemia and solid tumors, there exists among the multitude of warrior cancer cells a small subgroup that work undercover, patiently lying in wait to launch their attacks. Known as either cancer initiating cells (CICs) or leukemia initiating cells (LICs), these stealth populations are impervious to conventional chemotherapy and undaunted by targeted cancer therapies.

Scientists have uncovered a previously unrealized mechanism by which the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), a tyrosine kinase, promotes survival of cancer cells through a kinase-independent mechanism. The research, published by Cell Press in the May issue of the journal Cancer Cell, provides a rationale for the less than impressive results of recent clinical trials aimed solely at interfering with kinase activity and suggests new directions for potential therapeutic strategies.

Metastasis, the spread of cancer throughout the body, can be explained by the fusion of a cancer cell with a white blood cell in the original tumor, according to Yale School of Medicine researchers, who say that this single event can set the stage for cancer’s migration to other parts of the body.

A team of University of Chicago scientists has shown how two proteins locate and repair damaged genetic material inside cells.

A new fundamental mechanism of how tumour cells communicate has just been discovered by the team of Dr. Janusz Rak at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) in collaboration with Dr Guha from the University of Toronto. The cancer cells are able to communicate with their more healthy counter-parts by releasing vesicles.

There are many pathways that allow an errant gene to turn a cell cancerous, and a number of these pathways go through a single enzyme called the p21-activated kinase 1, or PAK1.

In a discovery that may be useful for maintaining remission in chemo-resistant ovarian cancer, Yale scientists report that pre-clinical studies have shown the drug compound NV-128 can induce the death of ovarian cancer cells by halting the activation of a protein pathway called mTOR.

Oregon Health & Science University researchers have identified a gene that is necessary in eliminating cancer cells.

Researchers from the Nano Machine Center at the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA have developed a novel type of nanomachine that can capture and store anticancer drugs inside tiny pores and release them into cancer cells in response to light.

Researchers in Taiwan report for the first time that blocking a key energy-supplying protein kills cancer cells. The finding, described as the first to test possible medical uses of so-called ATP-synthase inhibitors, may lead to new and more effective anti-cancer medications, according to their report, which is scheduled for the April 4 issue of ACS’ monthly Journal of Proteome Research.

A new method of filming blood-vessel cells that move in accordance with targeted signals has been developed by researchers at Uppsala University in collaboration with researchers at the University of California.

Investigators at the Duke Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy have revealed the hidden properties of an on-off switch that governs cell growth.