Researchers at the Medical University of Vienna have deciphered a previously little-noticed mechanism of tumor promotion in colorectal cancer.
A recent study led by Maria Sibilia of the Center for Cancer Research and the Comprehensive Cancer Center Vienna discovered that the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), a key target for targeted therapy in metastatic colorectal cancer, may not drive the tumor cells themselves, but rather act on certain immune cells, making them less effective at fighting the tumor.
The study has now been published in the leading journal Cell Death & Differentiation.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41418-026-01774-x