PubMed is the leading search engine for biomedical literature, comprising more than 27 million citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books.
PubMed has a page for “Trending articles” – PubMed records with a recent significant increase in views relative to baseline. Much like trending topics on social media, for an article to ‘trend’ on PubMed reflects a great surge of interest in the scientific community.
Trending: Inactivation of DNA repair triggers neoantigen generation and impairs tumour growth
We spoke to EACR President Elect, Alberto Bardelli, about his lab’s recent Nature paper “Inactivation of DNA repair triggers neoantigen generation and impairs tumour growth”, which was the number one trending article on PubMed for a significant period.
Why are the findings in the paper significant? (And how do you feel about it being the most popular paper on PubMed?)
The most exciting finding is the idea to turn an immune (cold) cancer into an immune (hot) one by triggering the emergence of neoantigens. If successful this strategy might, one day, lead to innovative therapies.
We were amazed to see that the paper has been continuously listed as the most Trending Article in PubMed, the main search engine for biomedical literature. PubMed contains over 27 million records (source: Wikipedia) and we are delighted that scientists worldwide found our results of interest and have shared the paper with others.
How long did it take from starting the research to it being published in Nature?
It took about three years, it was a long and complex journey as we sailed the uncharted waters of immunogenomics. Giovanni Germano,a young investigator and the first author of the study, worked relentlessly. The manuscript is largely the results of his dedication to science.
What is your lab working on now? (Is it directly based on the research in the paper, or have you moved on?)
The paper has opened up new avenues, and many lab members are following up on the Nature story. There are so many experiments we have designed and are presently ongoing! We are also engaging our clinical colleagues to see how we can best translate the new concepts in the clinical arena.
Find out more
Click here to access the Nature paper via PubMed: “Inactivation of DNA repair triggers neoantigen generation and impairs tumour growth.”
Professor Bardelli’s lab at the Candiolo Cancer Institute – IRCCS
