Cancer's Malignant Remote Control
Researchers have discovered that tumors can communicate with distant organs to reprogram fat metabolism in the liver. This process helps shield cancer cells from the immune system, suggesting that targeting the MTDH gene could improve immunotherapy outcomes.
Why it matters
This finding identifies a new systemic mechanism for cancer progression and offers a potential therapeutic target to enhance the effectiveness of existing cancer treatments.
AUGUST 28, 2026, NEW YORK - In their quest to understand how cancers take root, grow and spread, scientists have for the past half-century explored the genetic aberrations and microenvironmental peculiarities of tumors and their constituent cells. Such studies continue to yield discoveries that are today fueling a revolution in cancer therapy. Meanwhile, new technologies have in recent years enabled a more granular examination of how tumors interact biochemically with the rest of the body to support their own growth and survival.
A study led by Ludwig Princeton's Yibin Kang and Yong Tang now adds a new dimension to this emerging portrait of the tumor in its context. Reported in the current issue of Cell Metabolism , its findings reveal how tumors reach out across the body and tweak physiological processes governed by a distant organ to indirectly shield themselves from immune attack.
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