Chemotherapy remains a cornerstone of treatment for head and neck cancers, the seventh-most common cancer type worldwide. However, the disease is often diagnosed at a late stage once it has already spread to other organs, and the majority of patients on active treatment will develop resistance to chemotherapy within a matter of months, underscoring a prominent avenue for designing more effective care strategies.

Spinal cord injuries affect an estimated 15 to 20 million people worldwide, often causing lasting impairments in movement, sensation, and independence. Such injuries can be especially devastating when they occur at the level of the neck, where damaged spinal circuits disrupt signals that control the diaphragm, the main muscle used for breathing.

Despite advances in emergency care and rehabilitation, no approved therapies exist to rebuild the neurons and connections lost after a spinal cord injury.

To develop new targeted treatments for cancer, scientists need tissue models that accurately represent the genetic and molecular traits of the cancer they’re studying. An international team led by researchers at MIT’s Koch Institute, the Broad Institute, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, the National Cancer Institute, and numerous other partnering institutions has developed nearly 700 new cancer models, derived from patient tumors, which they hope will aid in drug development.

Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine have developed a drug called CS18 that disrupts the ability of cancer cells to survive therapy. The findings, published in Science Advances, support exploring the possibility of using CS18 to treat human cancer in the future.

“Therapeutic resistance is a main obstacle to achieve effective and durable cancer treatments,” said corresponding author Dr. Weei-Chin Lin, professor of medicine - hematology and oncology and of molecular and cellular biology at Baylor.

Mayo Clinic researchers have developed an experimental drug with the help of artificial intelligence (AI) to target the "undruggable" PDZ-domain of GIPC1 protein that helps different types of cancer, including pancreatic cancer, to grow and resist treatment. In laboratory studies, the drug slowed tumor growth, improved survival and enhanced the effects of the chemotherapy drug gemcitabine.

The findings, published in Cell Reports, also demonstrate how AI could help develop a small molecule inhibitor of a target protein that can be less toxic and speed the discovery of new cancer treatments.

Type 2 diabetes is associated with an increased risk of heart disease. So many people with type 2 diabetes are prescribed blood sugar-lowering medication to reduce this risk.

However, not everyone takes their medication consistently, and that inconsistency could leave them more exposed. Yet scientists have struggled to pin down how much long-term adherence, meaning how reliably someone sticks to a prescription over the years, actually changes a person's risk of a heart attack or stroke.

Cancer cells have a voracious appetite for sugar - using it to fuel their rapid growth. This is why many scientists have tried to develop drugs that block cancer cells’ metabolism by cutting off their sugar supply.

Now a team led by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin report in the journal Nature Chemical Biology that they have found a completely different approach. Instead of starving cancer cells, they trick them into consuming even more sugar than usual.