A selection of cancer research in the news this past week…

• An animal study on breast cancer showed that eating within just an eight-hour window every day could “prevent the development of tumours”. The study’s lead researcher, Dr. Manasi Das, suggested that “this intervention may be effective in breast cancer prevention and therapy”. The study on time restricted eating was formally presented at ENDO 2019 conference (March 23-26, New Orleans).
• Researchers from Tulane University established that circadian disruption caused by exposure to dim light at night may contribute to the metastatic spread of breast cancer to the bone. This animal study was also presented at ENDO 2019 conference.
• Also focused on breast cancer, a trial conducted at Marshall University demonstrated that walnut consumption altered gene expressions related to tumor progression and could “decrease breast cancer growth and survival”. The new study on this ongoing research is in press and is due to be published in Nutrition Research. Note: Primary funding for this study “was from the California Walnut Commission to WEH”.
• Researchers from Mount Sinai Icahn School of Medicine conducted a study that uncovered “how cancer cells with identical genomes can respond differently to the same therapy”. The study published in Nature Communications established the “relationship between mitochondria variability and drug response” which “may lead to more effective targeted cancer treatments”.
• University of Bradford and University of Surrey, UK researchers discovered that prostate cancer cells “spit out” a protein from their nucleus taken up by other cells, including normal cells, which provokes tumor growth. The study was published in Scientific Reports.
• A study conducted by researchers from the UK and Spain determined that a protein produced by melanoma cells triggers reprogramming of healthy immune cells to prevent them from attacking cancer cells and to help them survive instead. The study was published in Cell.