Nature Reviews Cancer 9, 821 (2009). doi:10.1038/nrc2728

Authors: Melissa R. Junttila & Gerard I. Evan

Cancers are rare because their evolution is actively restrained by a range of tumour suppressors. Of these p53 seems unusually crucial as either it or its attendant upstream or downstream pathways are inactivated in virtually all cancers. p53 is an evolutionarily ancient coordinator of metazoan

Nature Reviews Cancer 9, 831 (2009). doi:10.1038/nrc2731

Authors: Lawrence A. Donehower & Guillermina Lozano

Cell and molecular biological studies of p53 functions over the past 30 years have been complemented in the past 20 years by studies that use genetically engineered mice. As expected, mice that have mutant Trp53 alleles usually develop cancers of various types more rapidly

Nature Reviews Cancer 9, 768 (2009). doi:10.1038/nrc2751

Author: Sarah Seton-Rogers

There is a compelling rationale for using hedgehog pathway inhibitors to treat both medulloblastoma and basal cell carcinoma. Phase I clinical trial data in basal cell carcinoma and a case study of a patient with medulloblastoma reported recently in the New England Journal of Medicine

Nature Reviews Cancer 9, 766 (2009). doi:10.1038/nrc2752

Author: Sarah Seton-Rogers

Do microRNA (miRNA) expression profiles reflect specific stages in tumour progression? Douglas Hanahan and colleagues set out to answer this question by analysing the miRNA transcriptome in distinct stages of tumorigenesis in the RIP1-Tag2 mouse model of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours (PNETs).Normal, hyperplastic and

Nature Reviews Cancer 9, 771 (2009). doi:10.1038/nrc2753

Author: Nicola McCarthy

The early detection of cancer is a priority for ensuring the best outcome for patients and reducing health care costs. The hunt is on for biomarkers that can identify individuals who are likely to have cancer, but inexpensive, simple and preferably minimally invasive methods of

Nature Reviews Cancer 9, 770 (2009). doi:10.1038/nrc2754

Author: Nicola McCarthy

Children with neurofibromatosis type 1 are heterozygous for NF1 and have a substantially increased risk of developing an aggressive myeloproliferative disorder (MPD): juvenile myelomonocytic leukaemia (JMML). Using mouse models, Jennifer Lauchle, Kevin Shannon and colleagues have identified the stages of this disease that might

Nature Reviews Cancer 9, 842 (2009). doi:10.1038/nrc2665-c1

Authors: Thomas Erren, Dominique Zeuß, Frank Steffany & Benno Meyer-Rochow

The Science and Society article Wildlife cancer: a conservation perspective (Nature Rev. Cancer9, 517–526 (2009)) sparked our interest. Its authors McAloose and Newton noted that “in the marine environment, increases in spontaneous benign and malignant

Nature Reviews Cancer 9, 842 (2009). doi:10.1038/nrc2665-c2

Authors: Denise McAloose & Alisa L. Newton

We would like to thank Thomas Erren, Dominique Zeuß, Frank Steffany, and Benno Meyer-Rochow for their thought-provoking comments on our Science and Society article (Wildlife cancer: a conservation perspective. Nature Rev. Cancer9, 517–526 (2009)). The information

Nature Reviews Cancer 9, 785 (2009). doi:10.1038/nrc2696

Authors: Hui-Zi Chen, Shih-Yin Tsai & Gustavo Leone

Mutations of the retinoblastoma tumour suppressor gene (RB1) or components regulating the RB pathway have been identified in almost every human malignancy. The E2F transcription factors function in cell cycle control and are intimately regulated by RB. Studies of model organisms have revealed

Nature Reviews Cancer 9, 798 (2009). doi:10.1038/nrc2734

Authors: Hua Yu, Drew Pardoll & Richard Jove

Commensurate with their roles in regulating cytokine-dependent inflammation and immunity, signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) proteins are central in determining whether immune responses in the tumour microenvironment promote or inhibit cancer. Persistently activated STAT3 and, to some extent, STAT5 increase tumour cell proliferation,

Nature Reviews Cancer 9, 810 (2009). doi:10.1038/nrc2735

Authors: Maria Mancini & Alex Toker

The roles of nuclear factor of activated T cells (NFAT) transcription factors have been extensively studied in the immune system. However, ubiquitous expression of NFAT isoforms in mammalian tissues has recently been observed, and a role for these transcription factors in human cancer is emerging.

Nature Reviews Cancer 9, 773 (2009). doi:10.1038/nrc2736

Authors: Adrian P. Bracken & Kristian Helin

The Polycomb group (PcG) proteins are transcriptional repressors that regulate lineage choices during development and differentiation. Recent studies have advanced our understanding of how the PcG proteins regulate cell fate decisions and how their deregulation potentially contributes to cancer. In this Review we discuss the

Nature Reviews Cancer 9, 765 (2009). doi:10.1038/nrc2749

Author: Meera Swami

Polycomb group (PcG) proteins silence differentiation genes during development and have been thought to have a primarily oncogenic role in human cancer. However, two studies in Drosophila melanogaster show that PcG proteins can also function as tumour suppressors by repressing key oncogenic signalling pathways.

Nature Reviews Cancer 9, 766 (2009). doi:10.1038/nrc2750

Author: Meera Swami

Mouse models have provided valuable insights into cancer biology, but have been limited in terms of performing unbiased genetic screens. Now an in vivo RNA interference screening approach has been used to identify determinants of lymphoma progression, showing that genes involved in cell motility

Nature Reviews Cancer 9, 769 (2009). doi:10.1038/nrc2755

Author: Nicola McCarthy

Constitutive expression of the hypoxia inducible factor 1 (HIF1) complex is most often associated with tumour progression and poor clinical outcome. However, expression of HIF1 is also evident during tumour suppression, and new results indicate that this might be the result of HIF1 regulation of

Nature Reviews Cancer 9, 770 (2009). doi:10.1038/nrc2756

Author: Gemma K. Alderton

Improved sequencing technology has provided researchers with the tools to assess the genomic and transcriptomic landscape of tumour specimens at high resolution. The information gained from these mapping exercises could provide important insights into tumour-initiating events and how a tumour might evolve. Therefore, Marco Marra,

Nature Reviews Cancer 9, 768 (2009). doi:10.1038/nrc2757

Author: Mhairi Skinner

There is increasing evidence that the development and growth of many tumours is sustained by a small subset of cells, the cancer stem cells (CSCs). However, the characteristics that distinguish CSCs from normal stem cells (SCs) are largely undefined. In a paper recently published in

Nature Reviews Cancer 9, 766 (2009). doi:10.1038/nrc2758

Therapy

Nature Reviews Cancer 9, 767 (2009). doi:10.1038/nrc2759

A double hitA Phase I/II safety and immunogenicity evaluation trial of trastuzumab combined with ERBB2 vaccination in patients with metastatic breast cancer has recently been published.Twenty-two patients with stage IV, ERBB2-positive breast cancer who were being treated with trastuzumab were vaccinated with an

Nature Reviews Cancer 9, 770 (2009). doi:10.1038/nrc2760

Author: Sarah Seton-Rogers

Breast cancer could be exacerbated by social isolation, a study in mice has suggested.Suzanne Conzen and colleagues at the University of Chicago, USA, raised mice that were genetically predisposed to developing breast cancer either in groups or isolated from the time that they were

Nature Reviews Cancer 9, 763 (2009). doi:10.1038/nrc2762

As one door closes, another opens, and so it is with two of our Article Series this month. The Review on page page 785 by Hui-Zi Chen, Shih-Yin Tsai and Gustavo Leone is the last in our short series on RB and E2F. In

Nature Reviews Cancer 9, 842 (2009). doi:10.1038/nrc2683-c1

Authors: Ke-Da Yu & Zhi-Ming Shao

We read with great interest the content-rich Review CYP2D6 and tamoxifen: DNA matters in breast cancer (CYP2D6