Cancer researchers face disciplinary action following research-integrity scandal

Hello Nature readers,
This week, we hear that cancer researchers in China are facing disciplinary action after being caught fabricating data, learn that vaping after smoking is worse than quitting altogether and explore a billion-dollar deal for KRAS inhibitors.

China reels from research-integrity scandal

Several cancer researchers in China have been fired or disciplined after a vlogger exposed potential instances of data fabrication in papers published in Nature Cancer and other Nature-branded journals. In videos posted to Chinese social-media platform Bilibili, former PhD student Geng Hongwei, known online as ‘Student Geng’, showed that many digits in the figures of one paper were suspiciously identical, suggesting the data had been made up. Following an investigation into the co-authors by Nankai University, Chen Quan was removed from his position as dean of the College of Life Sciences, Zheng Hao was found to have committed academic misconduct and was fired from his role as a postdoctoral researcher and another scientist was cautioned. Nature Cancer editors are investigating the concerns. (Nature Briefing: Cancer is editorially independent from Nature’s research division.)

Vaping after smoking worse than quitting

Data from more than 4.5 million people in South Korea indicates that former smokers who used electronic cigarettes had a higher risk of both lung cancer incidence and lung cancer-related death, compared to those who quit completely. But both groups had lower rates of death than those who continue to smoke cigarettes.

Nonprofit buys cancer drug supply

A nonprofit organization called Blood Cancer United is buying the existing supply of a discontinued drug called Luvelta (luveltamab tazevibulin), which is used to treat a rare form of childhood blood cancer. The organization will distribute the experimental antibody-drug-conjugate free of charge for compassionate use. Sutro Biopharma, the company developing the medication, decided to discontinue it last year to focus on funding the development of other drugs.

Billion-dollar deal for KRAS inhibitors

The pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson is buying a startup called Firefly Bio for US$1 billion, and with it, its innovative KRAS inhibitors. Such drugs have garnered a lot of attention after Revolution Medicines showed they could nearly double survival in people with advanced pancreatic cancer, one of the deadliest tumours, earlier this year. Firefly Bio, which was co-founded by Nobel Prize-winning chemist Carolyn Bertozzi in 2022, is creating drugs that latch onto and degrade KRAS proteins, which are often mutated in tumours.

Life in limbo

Almost four years since her diagnosis, 42-year-old Kate Dietrick describes herself as ‘living with and dying from’ stage 4 breast cancer. In the past, a stage 4 diagnosis usually meant that a person had just months to live, but modern treatment options have given people like Dietrick more time to live life — and to contemplate its end. While her friends are raising children and planning for the future, she is facing difficult decisions about how to best spend her time.

Cancer makes menopause harder to treat

People who have breast or endometrial cancers that feed off oestrogen can’t take hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to treat the brain fog and hot flashes that often accompany perimenopause. But there are other, lesser-known options, experts say. “We have so many other things in our tool kit,” says women’s health physician Stephanie Faubion. These include the drugs fezolinetant and elinzanetant that can alleviate hot flashes by modifying neurological pathways. Antidepressants and other drugs can be used off-label to treat symptoms and some lifestyle modifications, such as resistance training, can make a difference.