Features

The Next Frontier of CAR T-Cell Therapy: Solid Tumors

Some Cancers Become Contagious

The Dark Matter of the Human Proteome
Editorial

Miracle Elixirs
A long way into the quest to vanquish cancer, our ears strain to hear the words, “Cancer is cured”—a yearning that can cloud our judgment.
Notebook

Tuberculosis Can Emerge After Cancer Immunotherapy
At least a handful of patients have developed active TB after receiving cancer treatment designed to boost the immune system’s antitumor response.

Could Grandpa’s Early Diet Affect Your Health?
A large study seeks to answer whether a man’s childhood diet has transgenerational repercussions.

Why Is Cancer More Common in Men Than in Women?
The molecular processes that lead males to be more susceptible to the disease are only beginning to come to light.

Researchers DNA Barcode the Arctic
A group of scientists in northern Norway are using the technique to measure biodiversity’s response to past and present climate change.
Modus Operandi

Mopping Up Excess Chemotherapy Drugs
A prototype in-vein device would collect toxic medications before they reach healthy tissues.
Profiles

Cancer Vaxxer: A Profile of Miriam Merad
The Mount Sinai oncologist studies innate immune cells with the goal of designing novel immunotherapies, including cancer vaccines.
Scientist to Watch

Sophia Lunt Traces the Effect of Metabolism on Cancer Metastasis
The Michigan State University researcher’s lab experiences shaped her interest in the role of glucose in cancer’s spread.
Lab Tools

Contending with Resistance in Cancer Immunotherapy
Researchers describe ways to study how cancer cells evade therapies that harness the immune system.
Bio Business

Scientists Take Aim at Disease-Causing RNAs Using Small-Molecule Drugs
Renewed interest from the biotech industry sparks hope for drugging the nucleic acid to treat cancer and other conditions.
Reading Frames

A Review of Everything in Its Place: First Loves and Last Tales
This posthumously published collection of essays by Oliver Sacks further cements the neurologist’s place in the pantheon of science writers.
Foundations

From Chemical Weapon to Chemotherapy, 1917–1946
Mustard gas blistered men’s bodies on the battlefield, but paved the way for cancer-fighting drugs.
The Literature

Fat Tissue Can Help Cancer Cells Proliferate, Metastasize
Researchers disentangle how adipocytes communicate with prostate tumors in mice.

Cancer-Specific Antigens Encoded in “Junk” DNA
Researchers found that allegedly noncoding genetic material carries the instructions for many peptides that may help harness the immune system to fight cancer.

Stray Germ Cells May Seed Female-Biased Cancerous Cysts
Similarities in gene expression hint at the origin of a certain type of pancreatic tumor that predominantly afflicts women.
Freeze Frame

Caught on Camera
Selected Images of the Day from the-scientist.com
Speaking of Science

Ten-Minute Sabbatical
Take a break from the bench to puzzle and peruse.
Contributors

Contributors
Meet some of the people featured in the April 2019 issue of The Scientist.
Infographics

Infographic: When Cancers Become Parasites
Only a handful of contagious cancers are known to exist, yet they have attracted an increasing number of researchers worldwide trying to understand how and why they arise.

Infographic: CAR-T Cells in Solid Versus Liquid Cancers
Tumor accessibility, heterogeneity, and microenvironment vary between the two classes of malignancies.

Infographic: Functional Characterization of Microproteins
Analyzing protein-protein interactions can shed light on what tiny proteins do in the cell.

Infographic: Medication Mop-Up
Researchers have developed a prototype device to filter excess chemotherapy medication from the bloodstream.

Infographic: How Fat Cells Influence Tumor Growth
Mice that lack p62 in their fat cells grow more tumors than animals that have a functioning version of the protein.