#OncoSky

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Persistent adverse effects of cancer treatments on mental health, fatigue, and sleep disturbances in breast cancer survivors - BMC Women's Health

Breast cancer is the most diagnosed cancer worldwide, affecting one in four women diagnosed with cancer. Cancer treatments, particularly chemotherapy, can

www.bbc.co.uk

Breast cancer checks missing lots of at risk younger women, says study

Up to 95% of younger women who are at higher risk of developing breast cancer are being missed by current NHS checks, researchers warn.

www.bci.qmul.ac.uk

Study reveals gaps in cancer risk assessment and genetic tools for British Bangladeshi and Pakistani communities - Barts Cancer Institute

Scientists have carried out one of the largest and most comprehensive studies to date of the genetic and clinical factors associated with cancer in British Bangladeshi and Pakistani people. The findin...

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INHBA–S100A16 dysregulation enables a non-invasive molecular stratification platform for rapid detection of oral squamous cell carcinoma: results from a large diagnostic case-control study - Biomarker Research

Background Early diagnosis of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is critical, yet most oral potentially malignant disorders (OPMDs) are benign, and patients frequently undergo unnecessary invasive scalpel biopsies, creating diagnostic delays and patient harm. A rapid, non-invasive molecular diagnostic tool could improve early detection and reduce unnecessary procedures. This study aims to determine whether a previously validated microbiopsy-based multigene assay (qMIDSV2) could be adapted into a rapid, non-invasive brush biopsy test (qMIDSV3) for accurate OSCC detection. A prespecified hypothesis was that qMIDSV3 could distinguish OSCC from low-risk OPMD and contralateral normal mucosa with high diagnostic sensitivity. Methods This prospective diagnostic case-control study validated a multigene mRNA test (qMIDSV3) for OSCC detection using 1090 oral brush biopsies from 545 patients. Each patient provided paired brush biopsies from oral lesion and contralateral non-lesion mucosa, including OSCC (n = 443), oral leukoplakia (OL; n = 63), and oral lichen planus (OLP; n = 39). qPCR quantified mRNA levels of four genes (INHBA, S100A16, YAP1, POLR2A) from each brush biopsy, and an algorithm generated a malignancy index for cancer risk stratification. Results qMIDSV3 distinguished OSCC from OL and OLP with AUC 0.975, sensitivity 95.7%, specificity 95.1%, and overall accuracy 95.5%. False-positive and false-negative rates were 4.9% and 4.3%, demonstrating high specificity for detecting malignant cells rather than premalignant or inflammatory lesions. Conclusions Our findings highlight the clinical utility of qMIDSV3 as a rapid case-finding or triage test, potentially sparing over 90% of low-risk OPMD patients from unnecessary invasive tissue biopsies while accurately identifying OSCC cases. Non-invasive brush biopsy allows safe, repeatable sampling for long-term surveillance with minimal patient harm and enhancing early oral cancer detection. By reducing unnecessary scalpel biopsies and specialty referrals, qMIDSV3 provides a molecularly guided and rapid triage pathway.

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Reading Together is a Bright Spot

Turn story time into support for families facing a parent's cancer. Every donation to our Read-a-Thon helps sustain Bright Reads, one of the many free programs Bright Spot Network offers to families n...

www.nature.com

A benchmark study of vision and pathology foundation models for computational pathology - Nature Communications

The comparative performance and generalisability of pathology foundation models remain largely unexamined. Here, the authors benchmark 32 AI pathology foundation models across large cancer datasets, s...

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Dissecting cancer in a non-mammalian model: genomic insights from lemon frost geckos - BMC Biology

Background Comparative oncology can uncover novel mechanisms of cancer resistance and progression across animals. Non-traditional model organisms with naturally high or low cancer prevalence may provide further insights into metastasis or cancer resistance. In this context, the “lemon frost” morph of the leopard gecko (Eublepharis macularius) shows high prevalence of iridophoromas, exceeding 80%. These tumors can recur and metastasize, presenting a unique opportunity to study pigment cell cancer and tumor progression in a non-mammalian vertebrate. Results We performed high-coverage whole-genome sequencing on matched tumor and non-tumor samples from three lemon frost individuals. A shared missense mutation in the TATA-box binding protein (TBP) suggests possible disruption to transcriptional regulation in tumor samples. Additionally, a recurrent gene fusion between IARS1 and RNF213 was identified across all tumor samples. Copy number neutral loss of heterozygosity events were observed in three mutated genes that have a role in cancer: MAP3K13, TENM4, and OR2AT4-like, while copy number gains were observed in four genomic regions. Pathway analysis revealed dysregulation in actin filament organization, a hallmark of metastatic potential. These findings suggest a multifaceted genomic basis for tumorigenesis in this model, including transcriptional misregulation, chromatin remodeling defects, and cytoskeletal disruption. Conclusions This study provides the first characterization of genomic changes associated with iridophoroma in a reptilian species and establishes the lemon frost gecko as a promising model for cancer research. Our findings identify candidate pathways of tumor progression and metastasis in a non-traditional system, highlighting both conserved and novel mechanisms relevant to human disease.