Low levels of the amino acid arginine are associated with a number of diseases, including colon cancer. Building on earlier work, researchers have discovered that an arginine-deficient diet stalls the production of the MHC-1 protein, which alerts the immune system to dangers such as a mutating cell or an invading virus. However, increasing arginine levels through diet boosts the number of MHC-I proteins, which suppresses colorectal tumors and enhances immunity to the flu and Covid.

What if cancer screening no longer had to look for one cancer at a time? Cancer screening has long followed a one-organ-at-a-time model: mammography for breast cancer, colonoscopy for colorectal cancer, low-dose CT for lung cancer, and cervical testing for cervical cancer. These programs save lives, but they also leave gaps. Many cancers still lack routine screening, while patients often face multiple appointments, tests, and follow-up procedures.

- A joint team from KAIST, Gangnam Severance Hospital, and Asan Medical Center is the first to reveal how colorectal cancer progression reshapes the blood’s “metabolic map”

- The new method showed higher predictive power than CEA, a conventional blood biomarker, raising hopes for personalized treatment strategies

- An interdisciplinary idea born from the KAIST Master’s and PhD Venture Research Program led to a world-class research achievement

Significant advances have been made in the development of patient-derived tumor “organoids” for preclinical research, in two new studies led by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators. The advances represent progress in precision medicine and point to the more routine use of tumor organoids as models for evaluating and optimizing cancer treatments.