Researchers at Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy have developed a set of novel, first-in-class drugs that inhibit hypoxia-inducible factors 1 and 2, a pair of transcription factors considered to be “master regulators” of cancer progression. The study, to be published April 2 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine (JEM), shows that these drugs, when combined with immunotherapy, can completely eliminate breast, colorectal, melanoma, and prostate tumors in mice, suggesting that they could eventually be used to treat a broad range of cancers in humans.

A new study led by researchers at the University of Liège highlights the unexpected role of Stard7 in the development of intestinal cancers. Long seen as a transporter of some lipids to mitochondria, Stard7 now appears to be a key player in mitochondrial metabolism and tumour development in the intestine.

Researchers from Trinity College Dublin, Dublin City University and University College Dublin will use newly awarded funding of €670,000 from Enterprise Ireland’s Commercialisation Fund to develop a breakthrough blood-based screening test for bowel cancer (colorectal cancer, CRC).

The team, working with clinicians at St. Vincent’s University Hospital, seeks to transform cancer outcomes by moving screening away from invasive or unpleasant methods to their simple, high-accuracy blood test, named “CASPDx CRC”.

The CASPDx team is now initiating the formal validation of their product. Patients are being recruited in all Bowel Screen Centres in the HSE Dublin & South East region as part of clinical validation studies, with assistance of the UCD Clinical Research Centre. While the CASPDx CRC test is still at clinical validation and immunoassay development phases, the team aim to launch the test and spin-out as a company by the end of 2027.