Scientific Publications

A new Nature Medicine paper dissects how human IgG1 responses to tumour antigens underpin clinical outcomes in immune checkpoint blockade, highlighting a coordinated B-cell / T-cell axis in effective anti-tumour immunity

• Link: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-025-04177-6

Gut microbial metabolites are recognised as critical effector molecules that influence the development of colorectal cancer (CRC). Peptidoglycan fragments (PGFs) produced by microbiota play a crucial role in maintaining intestinal homeostasis, but their role in CRC remains unclear.

• Link: https://gut.bmj.com/content/74/8/1230

Melanoma-Associated Antigens (MAA) are correlated with tumor development, progression and metastatic dissemination. MAA can be targeted in immunotherapy by specific antibodies or by cytotoxic T-cells. MAA are actually self-antigens and, thus, are weak immunogens because they induce various degrees of immune tolerance. Four families of MAA are involved in clinical monitoring and therapy efficacy, such as: melanocyte lineage/differentiation antigens, oncofetal/cancer-testis antigens, GAGE antigens and the extended family of cell-adhesion receptors.

• Link: https://www.scribd.com/document/822609296/Antibodies-Against-Melanoma-Antigens-Clinical-and-Therapeutical-Markers

CA 15-3 and CA 27–29 are widely used serum biomarkers for breast cancer with limited utility due to low sensitivity in early-stage disease. This study details the discovery of BF-09, a new breast cancer marker with potential for wider application.

• Link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405580825001840?via%3Dihub

ICC is a malignant tumor that originates from the intrahepatic bile ducts with insidious symptoms and a poor prognosis. Early diagnosis methods and therapeutic targets are urgently needed for ICC.

• Link: https://jeccr.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13046-025-03436-1

This study investigates HDAC3 as a potential immunotherapy biomarker in advanced non-small cell lung cancer (aNSCLC), focusing on its association with treatment response to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs).

• Link: https://respiratory-research.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12931-025-03275-w

Endometrial cancer (EC) is a gynecological malignancy that originates from the endometrial epithelium and has a poor prognosis when advanced, recurrent, or metastatic. The limited therapeutic efficacy and severe adverse effects of conventional chemotherapy in advanced EC highlight the urgent need to develop more effective therapeutic drugs. Accumulating clinical evidence has revealed that natural compounds possess pharmacological advantages, including low toxicity and multi-target mechanisms. Erianin is a natural small-molecule compound isolated from Dendrobium chrysotoxum Lindl that has multiple pharmacological effects. However, the effects of erianin on EC have not been confirmed and its anticancer mechanisms remain unclear.

• Link: https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-6876152/v1

Of the three stages of cancer immunoediting (elimination, equilibrium and escape), the first stage, elimination, where the destruction of early cancer cells prevents them to progress to the subsequent stages of immunoediting and thus prevents cancer development, has been the least studied. Recent laboratory research suggests that autoantibodies (AAbs) play a role in the elimination stage, through recognition of either neoantigens or tumor-associated antigens (TAAs) present on transforming cells.

• Link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0306987725001185?via%3Dihub

Autoantibodies have a substantial impact on human health ranging from autoimmune diseases to cancer diagnostics. Knowledge of the antigens recognized can allow for more accurate diagnostics, a better understanding of pathogeneses and thus improved prevention, as well as laying the foundation for the development of new therapies. A critical step to acquire this knowledge is to detect the exact self-antigens targeted by autoantibodies out of the pool of 20,000 human proteins against which reactivities could be observed.

• Link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022175925000766?via%3Dihub

A high proliferation rate of cancer cells requires increased protein synthesis leading to ER stress, a condition characterized by accumulation of unfolded or misfolded proteins in the ER lumen. Three interconnected Unfolded Protein Response (UPR) pathways, IRE1, PERK, and ATF6 pathways, are activated to relieve ER stress or to initiate apoptosis if prolonged strong ER stress remains unsolved. Thus, the chronically elevated ER stress levels in cancer cells constitute an Achilles’ heel and provide a window of opportunity for development of therapeutic regimens.

• Link: https://aacrjournals.org/cancerres/article/85/8_Supplement_1/3045/755540/Abstract-3045-Development-of-a-first-in-class