Cancer Biology

Transcriptional pattern enriched for synaptic signaling is associated with shorter survival of patients with high-grade serous ovarian cancer

1. Arkajyoti Bhattacharya
2. Thijs S Stutvoet
3. Mirela Perla
4. Stefan Loipfinger
5. Mathilde Jalving
6. Anna KL Reyners
7. Paola D Vermeer
8. Ronny Drapkin
9. Marco de Bruyn
10. Elisabeth GE de Vries
11. Steven de Jong
12. Rudolf SN Fehrmann

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This valuable study uses consensus-independent component analysis to highlight transcriptional components (TC) in high-grade serous ovarian cancers (HGSOC). The study presents a convincing preliminary finding by identifying a TC linked to synaptic signaling that is associated with shorter overall survival in HGSOC patients, highlighting the potential role of neuronal interactions in the tumour microenvironment. This finding is corroborated by comparing spatially resolved transcriptomics in a small-scale study; a weakness is it being descriptive, non-mechanistic, and requires experimental validation.

Reviewed by eLife

A multi-scale segmentation-free self-supervised AI model to characterize the heterogeneity of the brain tumor microenvironment

1. Sam Sterling
2. Jimin Tan
3. Hortense Le
4. Danielle Share
5. Yi Ban
6. Matija Snuderl
7. Aristotelis Tsirigos

Reviewed by PREreview

Invasion of glioma cells through confined space requires membrane tension regulation and mechano-electrical coupling via Plexin-B2

1. Chrystian Junqueira Alves
2. Theodore Hannah
3. Sita Sadia
4. Christy Kolsteeg
5. Angela Dixon
6. Robert J. Wiener
7. Ha Nguyen
8. Murray J. Tipping
9. Júlia Silva Ladeira
10. Paula Fernandes da Costa Franklin
11. Nathália de Paula Dutra de Nigro
12. Rodrigo Alves Dias
13. Priscila V. Zabala Capriles
14. José P. Rodrigues Furtado de Mendonça
15. Paul Slesinger
16. Kevin Costa
17. Hongyan Zou
18. Roland H. Friedel

Reviewed by preLights

Oncogenic and teratogenic effects of Trp53Y217C, an inflammation-prone mouse model of the human hotspot mutant TP53Y220C

1. Sara Jaber
2. Eliana Eldawra
3. Jeanne Rakotopare
4. Iva Simeonova
5. Vincent Lejour
6. Marc Gabriel
7. Tatiana Cañeque
8. Vitalina Volochtchouk
9. Monika Licaj
10. Anne Fajac
11. Raphaël Rodriguez
12. Antonin Morillon
13. Boris Bardot
14. Franck Toledo

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This work is of fundamental significance and has an exceptional level of evidence for the role of a mutant p53 in regulation of tumorigenesis using an in vivo mouse model. The study is well-conducted and will be of interest to a broad audience including those interested in p53, transcription factors and cancer biology.

Reviewed by eLife

Prostate cancer associated fibroblasts have distinct morphomechanical features that are associated with patient outcome

1. Antje Garside
2. Angela Jacobi
3. Shivakumar Keerthikumar
4. Vaibhav Mahajan
5. Michelle Richards
6. Birunthi Niranjan
7. Linda Teng
8. Nicholas Choo
9. Gail P Risbridger
10. Mitchell G Lawrence
11. Anna V. Taubenberger

Reviewed by Life Science Editors Foundation

S100a4+ alveolar macrophages accelerate the progression of precancerous atypical adenomatous hyperplasia by promoting the angiogenic function regulated by fatty acid metabolism

1. Hong Huang
2. Ying Yang
3. Qiuju Zhang
4. Yongfeng Yang
5. Zhenqi Xiong
6. Shengqiang Mao
7. Tingting Song
8. Yilong Wang
9. Zhiqiang Liu
10. Hong Bu
11. Li Zhang
12. Le Zhang

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This is an important study demonstrating the importance of S100A4+ alveolar macrophages in the earlier stages of tumour development and suggesting a role in angiogenesis. As such this convincing study is of interest to cancer biologists focused on early tumour development and those interested in the development of therapeutics that may specifically target early cancers.

Reviewed by eLife

Loss function of tumor suppressor FRMD8 confers resistance to tamoxifen therapy via a dual mechanism

1. Weijie Wu
2. Miao Yu
3. Qianchen Li
4. Yiqian Zhao
5. Lei Zhang
6. Yi Sun
7. Zhenbin Wang
8. Yuqing Gong
9. Wenjing Wang
10. Chenying Liu
11. Jing Zhang
12. Yan Tang
13. Xiaojie Xu
14. Xiaojing Guo
15. Jun Zhan
16. Hongquan Zhang

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  The research presents valuable findings on the impact of FRMD8 loss on tumor progression and resistance to tamoxifen therapy. Through a series of convincing and systematic experiments, the author thoroughly investigates the role of FRMD8 in breast cancer and its underlying regulatory mechanisms. The study confirms that FRMD8 holds potential as a therapeutic target for reversing tamoxifen resistance, offering helpful insights for future treatment strategies.

Reviewed by eLife

Telomeres control human telomerase (hTERT) expression through non-telomeric TRF2

1. Antara Sengupta
2. Soujanya Vinayagamurthy
3. Drishti Soni
4. Rajlekha Deb
5. Ananda Kishore Mukherjee
6. Subhajit Dutta
7. Jushta Jaiswal
8. Mukta Yadav
9. Shalu Sharma
10. Sulochana Bagri
11. Shuvra Shekhar Roy
12. Priya Poonia
13. Ankita Singh
14. Divya Khanna
15. Amit Kumar Bhatt
16. Akshay Sharma
17. Suman Saurav
18. Rajender K Motiani
19. Shantanu Chowdhury

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  The authors of this important study investigate how telomere length regulates hTERT expression via non-telomeric binding of the telomere-associated protein TRF2. They conclusively show that TRF2 binding to long telomeres results in a reduction in its binding to the hTERT promoter, while short telomeres restore TRF2 binding in the hTERT promoter, recruiting repressor complexes like PRC2, and suppressing hTERT expression. There is convincing support for the claims and the findings should be of broad interest for cell biologists and those working in fields where telomeres alter function, such as cancer and aging.

Reviewed by eLife

Ezh2 Delays Activation of Differentiation Genes During Normal Cerebellar Granule Neuron Development and in Medulloblastoma

1. James Purzner
2. Alexander S Brown
3. Teresa Purzner
4. Lauren Ellis
5. Sara Broski
6. Ulrike Litzenburger
7. Kaytlin Andrews
8. Aryaman Sharma
9. Xin Wang
10. Michael D Taylor
11. Yoon-Jae Cho
12. Margaret T Fuller
13. Matthew P Scott

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  Using an unbiased approach, this important study discovered a role of Ezh2 in the differentiation of granule neuron precursors, the cell of origin for Shh group of medulloblastoma. Furthermore, the authors also provided solid evidence that combined inhibition of Ezh2 and CDK4/6 likely represents a promising strategy for the treatment of this subgroup of MB. Validation of these findings using the FDA-approved Ezh2 inhibitor is needed to further strengthen this preclinical study.

Reviewed by eLife

Spatially defined multicellular functional units in colorectal cancer revealed from single cell and spatial transcriptomics

1. Inbal Avraham-Davidi
2. Simon Mages
3. Johanna Klughammer
4. Noa Moriel
5. Shinya Imada
6. Matan Hofree
7. Evan Murray
8. Jonathan Chen
9. Karin Pelka
10. Arnav Mehta
11. Genevieve M Boland
12. Toni Delorey
13. Leah Caplan
14. Danielle Dionne
15. Robert Strasser
16. Jana Lalakova
17. Anezka Niesnerova
18. Hao Xu
19. Morgane Rouault
20. Itay Tirosh
21. Nir Hacohen
22. Fei Chen
23. Omer Yilmaz
24. Jatin Roper
25. Orit Rozenblatt-Rosen
26. Mor Nitzan
27. Aviv Regev

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This work presents a useful resource combining scRNA-seq and spatial transcriptomics studies to map mouse pre-clinical models of colorectal cancer, identifying distinct cellular programs and microenvironments that could enhance patient stratification and therapeutic approaches in colorectal cancer. While the novelty of the biological findings remains limited and incompletely supported by the evidence provided in the manuscript, the data were collected and analyzed using a validated methodology that will be of interest to the community in future studies.

Reviewed by eLife