Publications database

Precision oncology relies on access to high-quality data for increasingly smaller patient subgroups. The international atomCAT consortium investigates the potential of federated learning to support this, using anal cancer as a rare cancer exemplar. [...]

Fibroblast activation protein (FAP)-targeted tracers have emerged as promising agents for breast cancer imaging, with recent studies demonstrating PET performance comparable to or surpassing, that of [18F]FDG. Nevertheless, data comparing [68Ga]Ga-FAPI-46 and [18F]FDG uptake in hormone receptor and/or HER2-positive breast cancer (luminal-like vs HER2-positive) remain scarce. [...]

Current diagnostic pathways for prostate cancer (PCa) have unsatisfactory specificity and rely heavily on magnetic resonance imaging, underscoring the need for novel diagnostic biomarkers. This article provides a systematic review of the evidence on using blood-derived cell-free DNA (cfDNA)-based biomarkers for PCa diagnosis. [...]

Human papillomavirus infection, the primary cause of cervical cancer (the fourth most common cancer in women), is preventable through prophylactic HPV vaccines. As an alternative to current HPV vaccines, all based on a cocktail of L1 virus-like particles (VLPs) from multiple HPV types, the L2 capsid protein offers cross-protection via a conserved epitope residing at the N-terminus between residues 20-38. [...]

Membrane protection against oxidative insults is achieved by the concerted action of glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) and endogenous lipophilic antioxidants such as ubiquinone and vitamin E. More recently, ferroptosis suppressor protein 1 (FSP1) was identified as a critical ferroptosis inhibitor, acting via the regeneration of membrane-embedded antioxidants. [...]

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapy remains largely ineffective in glioblastoma (GB), where a highly immunosuppressive microenvironment and tumor heterogeneity impair therapeutic durability.Using a human neocortical brain slice model that preserves the complex GB microenvironment, we profiled interactions between natural killer group 2D (NKG2D) CAR-T cells and tumor ecosystems via PIC-seq, spatial transcriptomics, and gene regulatory network reconstruction.CAR-T cells showed an early but unsustained tumor-suppressive effect in the slice model. Single-cell profiling revealed that CAR CD8 T cells adopt an effector-skewed activation state accompanied by coordinated upregulation of checkpoint receptors and an exhaustion-associated transcription factor program. [...]

Background: Proton beam therapy (PBT) is a valuable alternative to photon radiotherapy of CNS tumors in children and adolescents. While most recent studies deal with the outcome or long-term side effects of PBT, the aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility of PBT with a particular focus on the acute toxicity of a simultaneous radiochemotherapy (sPBCT). [...]