In this week's Nature, members of the Cancer Genome Atlas Research Network report on the results of a comprehensive molecular analysis of esophageal cancer using samples from Western and Eastern populations. The researchers uncovered molecular differences between esophageal squamous cell carcinomas and esophageal adenocarcinomas, and identified three subclasses of esophageal squamous cell carcinomas. They also noted that esophageal adenocarcinomas strongly resembled the chromosomally unstable variant of gastric adenocarcinoma, "suggesting that these cancers could be considered a single disease entity." Overall, the findings provide a framework for better categorization of these tumors and a foundation for new therapy development. GenomeWeb has more on this study, here.
Also in Nature, a team led by researchers from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute reports on a genome-wide in vivo screen that identified several new host regulators of metastatic colonization. The investigators screened 810 mutant mouse lines to identify microenvironmental regulators of metastatic colonization and identified 23 genes that, when disrupted in the mouse, modify the ability of tumor cells to establish metastatic foci. Notably, 19 of these genes had not previously demonstrated to play a role in host control of metastasis.