15 high-impact papers reveal mechanistic insights, data from drug trials, and more
In the third quarter of 2025, Mark Foundation grantees continued to drive cancer research forward with a collection of high-impact research papers by investigators spanning our range of funding mechanisms—including Mark Foundation Centers, Emerging Leader Award (ELA) recipients, ASPIRE and Drug Discovery grantees, Momentum Fellows, and a co-sponsored Cancer Grand Challenges team. Their papers reveal findings in a variety of critical areas, including the impact of dietary fat on cancer development, the humoral determinants of checkpoint immunotherapy, and the mechanisms driving cancer-associated cachexia. Explore recent highlights below:
Perioperative nivolumab or nivolumab plus ipilimumab in resectable diffuse pleural mesothelioma: a phase 2 trial and ctDNA analyses
Published in Nature Medicine by Patrick Forde, MD, PhD; Drew Pardoll, MD, PhD; Kellie Smith, PhD; and Janis Taube, MD, MSc, investigators at The Mark Foundation Center for Advanced Genomics and Imaging
Humoral determinants of checkpoint immunotherapy
Published in Nature by Emerging Leader Award winner Aaron Ring, PhD
Mechanical confinement governs phenotypic plasticity in melanoma
Published in Nature by ASPIRE awardee Richard White, MD, PhD
Design of high-specificity binders for peptide–MHC-I complexes and De novo design and structure of a peptide–centric TCR mimic binding module
Published in Science by David Baker, PhD, and Chris Garcia, PhD, investigators on the Cancer Grand Challenges MATCHMAKERS team
Vagal blockade of the brain-liver axis deters cancer-associated cachexia
Published in Cell by Endeavor Award team leader Ayelet Erez, MD, PhD
The source of dietary fat influences anti-tumour immunity in obese mice
Published in Nature Metabolism by Emerging Leader Award winner Lydia Lynch, PhD
Reprogramming intratumoral Treg cells by morpholino-mediated splicing of FOXP3 for cancer immunotherapy
Published in Science Immunology by ASPIRE awardee Xiongbin Lu, PhD
Temporal control of human DNA replication licensing by CDK4/6-RB signalling and chemical genetics
Published in Nature Communications by ASPIRE awardees Jiri Bartek, MD, PhD and Bennie Lemmens, PhD
Loss of tumor cell MHC class II drives MAPK inhibitor insensitivity of BRAF-mutant anaplastic thyroid cancers
Published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation by Momentum Fellow Vera Tiedje, MD, PhD
Annotation-free discovery of disease-relevant cells in single-cell datasets
Published in Science Advances by ASPIRE awardee Kara Davis, DO
Repeats mimic pathogen-associated patterns across a vast evolutionary landscape
Published in Cell Genomics by ASPIRE awardee Benjamin Greenbaum, PhD
Single cell proteomics characterization of bone marrow hematopoiesis with distinct Ras pathway lesions
Published in Blood Advances by Momentum Fellow Anna-Marie Finger, PhD
MAPK and mTORC1 signaling converge to drive cyclin D1 protein production to enable cell cycle reentry in melanoma persister cells
Published in Science Signaling by Emerging Leader Award winner Sabrina Spencer, PhD
Metabolomics analysis of SNAT2-deficient cells: implications for the discovery of selective small molecule inhibitors of an amino acid transporter
Published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry by Drug Discovery awardee Seth Parker, PhD
Mitochondrial complex IV remodeling in tumor-associated macrophages amplifies interferon signaling and promotes anti-tumor immunity
Published in Immunity by Jorge Henao-Mejia, MD, PhD; Lexus R. Johnson, PhD; and Andy Minn, MD, PhD, investigators at The Mark Foundation Center for Immunotherapy, Immune Signaling, and Radiation