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The Mathematics of the Tumor

Cancer is "an evolutionary disease," writes Carl Zimmer at the New York Times. Treat it with one drug, see an improvement, but then it finds a way around the treatment to recur. Johns Hopkins University's Bert Vogelstein, he adds, is using mathematics to model such resistances and recurrence.

Vogelstein and his colleagues report in the journal eLife this week that their model indicates that dual therapy can lead to control if the disease, if there isn't one genetic mutation that can lead to resistance to both drugs, and that simultaneous treatment with two drugs is more effective than sequential treatment. "The realization of the advantages of simultaneous vs sequential dual therapy will hopefully stimulate efforts to combine agents much earlier in the drug development process," they note.

The Scan

RNA Editing in Octopuses Seems to Help Acclimation to Shifts in Water Temperature

A paper in Cell reports that octopuses use RNA editing to help them adjust to different water temperatures.

Topical Compound to Block EGFR Inhibitors May Ease Skin Toxicities, Study Finds

A topical treatment described in Science Translational Medicine may limit skin toxicities seen with EGFR inhibitor therapy.

Dozen Genetic Loci Linked to Preeclampsia Risk in New GWAS

An analysis of genome-wide association study data in JAMA Cardiology finds genetic loci linked to preeclampsia that have ties to blood pressure.

Cancer Survival Linked to Mutational Burden in Pan-Cancer Analysis

A pan-cancer paper appearing in JCO Precision Oncology suggests tumor mutation patterns provide clues for predicting cancer survival that are independent of other prognostic factors.