Communication between epithelial and mesenchymal cells in pancreatic cancer leads to a poor prognosis. The molecular basis for this signalling has now been revealed.

In this Review, Dong and Blanpain outline our current understanding of the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition in cancer, which we now know is not a simple binary switch but the existence of a series of different tumour states. The authors also discuss the implications of this knowledge for pharmacologically targeting epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition to overcome therapy resistance.

The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) has a central role in mounting effective and durable antitumour immunity. In this Review, Hwang et al. outline how tumour-induced ER stress responses alter the function of intratumoural immune cells and the efficacy of immunotherapy, highlighting the potential of unfolded protein response-targeted interventions to improve cancer outcomes.

A study reports the development of a method to trace intercellular transfer of mitochondria, and demonstrates that cancer cells that receive mitochondria from neurons have enhanced metastatic capabili...

The chromatin-remodelling enzyme ATRX and the transcription factor HNF4A are identified as pivotal regulators of colonic epithelial identity, with roles in metastasis in colorectal cancer.

Using organoids, researchers have found that 'revival' stem cells could hold the key to why people's cancers respond differently to treatment

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Background Head and neck cancers (HNC) represent an extremely heterogeneous group of diseases with a poorly predictable therapy outcome. Patient-derived tumor organoids (PDTO) offer enormous potential...

Oncofetal (OnF) reprogramming, driven by YAP and AP-1, induces phenotypic plasticity and therapy resistance in WNT-dependent colorectal cancer (CRC). Targeting the OnF state in combination with chemot...