News digest – research at risk, cancer stem cells, European survival differences and more

• We’re concerned about the potentially devastating effects of new EU legislation on our ability to carry out life-saving research. Our press release and this blog post have more information.

• There were several headlines about new figures looking at differences in cancer survival in Europe. Here’s our take, and NHS Choices have a more in-depth look at both the headlines and the statistics.

• Blocking a molecule in tumour-fuelling stem cells could offer a new way to treat bowel cancer, a Canadian study found. We covered the work, and Wired has some further detail about the research.

• The Guardian covered research by UK scientists that shows a potential way to pinpoint cell changes that are likely to develop into full-blown breast cancer.

• Our scientists published work showing that preventing proteins folding could be a promising strategy to treat cancer. Here’s our press release.

And finally

There were a couple of interesting research papers that didn’t get much pick-up, but that we think are worth highlighting:

• First up, Swiss scientists revealed how cancer cells repair damaged DNA during cell division. Research into DNA damage repair is important, and something we’re also working on.

• And US scientists described a novel mechanism by which brain tumours resist treatment. Newswise has more info.