Seeing the wood for the trees

A survey of molecular targets mentioned in abstracts from next week’s meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) suggests the field has not abandoned its roots in cellular proliferation, growth hormone and DNA regulation, even as research on immune modulators continues to grow. And while newer areas like cancer metabolism and autophagy have been generating buzz, they have yet to gather a substantial presence at the field’s biggest preclinical meeting.

BioCentury’s analysis identified about 100 translational targets that were mentioned in 10 or more AACR 2017 abstracts corresponding to seven mechanistic categories, each represented by a tree (see “The Hundred Target Wood”). ...