Iron (Fe) and copper (Cu), essential transition metals, play pivotal roles in various cellular processes critical to cancer biology, including cell proliferation, mitochondrial respiration, distant metastases, and oxidative stress. The emergence of ferroptosis and cuproptosis as distinct forms of non-apoptotic cell death has heightened their significance, particularly in connection with these metal ions. While initially studied separately, recent evidence underscores the interdependence of ferroptosis and cuproptosis. Studies reveal a link between mitochondrial copper accumulation and ferroptosis induction. This interconnected relationship presents a promising strategy, especially for addressing refractory cancers marked by drug tolerance. Harnessing the toxicity of iron and copper in clinical settings becomes crucial. Simultaneous targeting of ferroptosis and cuproptosis, exemplified by the combination of sorafenib and elesclomol-Cu, represents an intriguing approach. Strategies targeting mitochondria further enhance the precision of these approaches, providing hope for improving treatment outcomes of drug-resistant cancers. Moreover, the combination of iron chelators and copper-lowering agents with established therapeutic modalities exhibits a synergy that holds promise for the augmentation of anti-tumor efficacy in various malignancies. This review elaborates on the complex interplay between ferroptosis and cuproptosis, including their underlying mechanisms, and explores their potential as druggable targets in both cancer research and clinical settings.

Thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP) is an epithelial cell derived cytokine belonging to the IL-7 family and a key initiator of allergic inflammation. Two main isoforms of TSLP, classified as long- (lfTSLP) and short-form (sfTSLP), have been reported in human, but their expression patterns and role(s) in cancers are not yet clear. mRNA expression was examined by isoform-specific RT-PCR and RNA in situ hybridisation. Epigenetic regulation was investigated by chromatin immunoprecipitation-PCR and bisulfite sequencing. Tumour progression was investigated by gene overexpression, cell viability assay, cancer organoid culture and transwell invasion. Signals were investigated by proteome profiler protein array and RNA-sequencing. With the use of isoform-specific primers and probes, we uncovered that only sfTSLP was expressed in the cell lines and tumour tissues of human ovarian and endometrial cancers. We also showed the epigenetic regulation of sfTSLP: sfTSLP transcription was regulated by histone acetylation at promoters in ovarian cancer cells, whereas silencing of the sfTSLP transcripts was regulated by promoter DNA methylation in endometrial cancer cells. In vitro study showed that ectopically overexpressing sfTSLP promoted tumour growth but not invasion. Human phosphokinase array application demonstrated that the sfTSLP overexpression activated phosphorylation of multiple intracellular kinases (including GSK3α/β, AMPKα1, p53, AKT1/2, ERK1/2 and Src) in ovarian cancer cells in a context-dependent manner. We further investigated the impact of sfTSLP overexpression on transcriptome by RNA-sequencing and found that EFNB2 and PBX1 were downregulated in ovarian and endometrial cancer cells, suggesting their role in sfTSLP-mediated tumour growth. In conclusion, sfTSLP is predominantly expressed in ovarian and endometrial cancers and promotes tumour growth.

To investigate the role of DNA mismatch repair status (MMR) in survival of endometrioid endometrial cancer in Hong Kong Chinese women and its correlation to clinical prognostic factors, 238 patients with endometrioid endometrial cancer were included. Tumor MMR status was evaluated by immunohistochemistry. Clinical characteristics and survival were determined. Association of MMR with survival and clinicopathological parameters were assessed. MMR deficiency (dMMR) was found in 43 cases (16.5%). dMMR was associated with poor prognostic factors including older age, higher stage, higher grade, larger tumor size and more radiotherapy usage. Long-term survival was worse in dMMR compared to the MMR proficient group. The dMMR group had more deaths, shorter disease-specific survival (DSS), shorter disease-free survival (DFS), less 10-year DSS, less 10-year DFS, and more recurrence. The 5-year DSS and 5-year DFS in the dMMR group only showed a trend of worse survival but did not reach statistical significance. In conclusion, dMMR is present in a significant number of endometrioid endometrial cancers patients and is associated with poorer clinicopathological factors and survival parameters in the long run. dMMR should be considered in the risk stratification of endometrial cancer to guide adjuvant therapy and individualisation for longer follow up plan.

Background/Objectives: Our study evaluates the performance of the CDO1 and CELF4 methylation assay of cervical scrapings in diagnosing endometrial cancer. Methods: Patients referred for abnormal uterine bleeding, suspected endometrial pathology on imaging, endometrial hyperplasia, or cancer, who were indicated for endometrial sampling +/− hysteroscopy +/− hysterectomy, were recruited prospectively from the gynecology clinic of Prince of Wales Hospital, Hong Kong, from January 2023 to November 2024. Methylation assay was performed on the cervical scrapings of the participants, with the results compared to endometrium histology obtained on the same day. Results: Methylation assay results of 675 patients were compared to 629 outpatient endometrial assessments and 46 hysterectomy histology. The assay yields an accuracy of 97.3%, sensitivity of 84.1%, specificity of 98.8%, PPV of 89.2%, and NPV of 98.2%. The AUC is 0.92 with a Kappa coefficient of 0.85. The false-negative rate was 0.8% among the 629 endometrial assessment cases. Endometrial thickness, abnormal cervical cytology, and endometrial hyperplasia significantly affected the accuracy. Among seven false-positive cases, five had endometrial hyperplasia and two had cervical intraepithelial neoplasia. Eventually, three patients were diagnosed with endometrial cancer and one with cervical cancer 1 to 4 months later. Conclusions: Methylation assay of cervical scrapings is highly accurate in diagnosing endometrial cancer with a high sensitivity, specificity, and low false-negative rate. It can act as a triage to reduce invasive endometrial assessment. All false-positive cases were related to neoplastic processes in the genital tract, indicating that it may be useful for detecting cancer early, before histological change is evident.

Drug resistance in ovarian cancer, particularly platinum and immunotherapy resistance, is not a uniform tumor property but arises from spatially discrete microenvironmental niches. Conventional bulk and single-cell sequencing approaches cannot resolve this spatial organization, obscuring the regional heterogeneity that governs therapeutic vulnerability. Spatial multi-omics technologies, including spatial transcriptomics, multiplexed spatial proteomics, and mass spectrometry imaging-based metabolomics, now enable direct interrogation of these resistance niches within intact tissue architecture. This review aims to synthesize how spatial multi-omics redefines the mechanistic understanding of platinum and immunotherapy resistance in ovarian cancer and to propose a framework of spatially resolved biomarkers for niche-specific patient stratification. In high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma, four principal resistance microdomains have been proposed: the perivascular cancer stem-like cell niche, the hypoxic HIF-1α/NRF2/glutathione-rich niche, the cancer-associated fibroblast barrier niche mediating immune exclusion, and the omental adipocyte niche driving fatty acid oxidation-dependent chemoresistance. Spatial analysis further reveals that tertiary lymphoid structures (TLSs) in ovarian cancer harbor terminally exhausted rather than progenitor T cells, which may help to explain paradoxical immunotherapy failure despite immune infiltration. Integration of spatial transcriptomic, proteomic, and metabolomic data generates candidate biomarker scores, including spatial immune infiltration, cancer-associated fibroblast (CAF) organization, metabolic niche, chemoresistance niche, and spatial heterogeneity scores, that are presented here as hypothesis-generating research tools for niche-specific stratification rather than as clinical decision rules. Prospective validation of these spatial biomarkers in clinical trial cohorts represents the critical next step toward spatially informed precision oncology in ovarian cancer.