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Hijacking the Body’s Clock: How Breast Cancer Disrupts Brain-Regulated Rhythms

Hijacking the Body’s Clock: How Breast Cancer Disrupts Brain-Regulated Rhythms

Research led by Dr. Jeremy C. Borniger at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, a recipient of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation-AACR NextGen Grant for Transformative Cancer Research, has revealed that breast cancer hijacks the brain’s internal clock to fuel its own progression. In a recent publication in Neuron, the study found that tumors distally reprogram host circadian rhythms, blunting the daily surges of glucocorticoid hormones that are essential for energy and immune function.

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Age: More than a Demographic in Breast Cancer 

Age: More than a Demographic in Breast Cancer 

Many people accept illness as an inevitable part of aging. But in breast cancer, the relationship between age and tumor biology is more complex than it may seem. Supported by one of the inaugural 2023 Victoria’s Secret Global Fund for Women’s Cancers Rising Innovator Grants, in Partnership with Pelotonia and AACR, Dr. Sandra McAllister is investigating how aging shapes breast cancer at the molecular level.

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Armored for Victory: Reprogramming CAR T Cells Against Neuroblastoma

Armored for Victory: Reprogramming CAR T Cells Against Neuroblastoma

Transforming outcomes for children with high-risk cancers demands innovation. In 2023, Kristopher Bosse, MD, a physician-scientist at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, received the AACR-AstraZeneca Career Development Award for Physician-Scientists, a grant designed to empower early-career investigators to bridge the gap between laboratory discoveries and clinical breakthroughs. His AACR-supported research, published in Molecular Therapy, explores promising new directions in immunotherapy for children with neuroblastoma.

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RNA to the Rescue: A New DNA Repair Pathway for Double-Strand Breaks

RNA to the Rescue: A New DNA Repair Pathway for Double-Strand Breaks

2020 AACR Swim Across America Fellowship recipient Manisha Jalan, DPhil, reveals a novel DNA repair mechanism in human cells where RNA transcripts, once thought to be passive messengers, actively guide the repair of double-strand breaks. Mediated by the DNA polymerase ζ complex, this RNA-templated repair pathway introduces a new dimension to genome maintenance and challenges long-held biological dogma.

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Cholesterol: A Fork in the Road for Pancreatic Cancer

Cholesterol: A Fork in the Road for Pancreatic Cancer

Pancreatic cancer outcomes can differ depending on where the disease metastasizes, with lung involvement generally associated with better prognosis than liver involvement. Supported by a 2022 AACR-MPM Oncology Charitable Foundation Transformative Cancer Research Grant, Rushika Perera, PhD and her team at UCSF uncovered a key insight: a protein player in cholesterol metabolism, PCSK9, predicts whether pancreatic cancer cells colonize the liver or lungs. This discovery provides new understanding of metastatic behavior and potential therapeutic strategies.

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Resistance to BETi in Breast Cancer: More than Meets the Eye

Resistance to BETi in Breast Cancer: More than Meets the Eye

ER+ breast cancer patients typically receive endocrine therapies targeting the estrogen receptor, but approximately half of high-grade diseases will likely progress, highlighting the urgent need for new and effective treatment options. Supported by a 2018 AACR-John and Elizabeth Leonard Family Foundation Basic Cancer Research Fellowship, Dr. Sicong Zhang, investigated why BET inhibitors (BETi), a promising class of anti-cancer drugs, have failed to show efficacy in clinical trials for ER+ breast cancer patients.

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