Insight
Common cancer marker may play active role in preventing the disease, study finds
Ki-67, a protein used to measure tumour growth, may also help prevent chromosome errors that drive cancer, a study suggests.
The findings could change how scientists view Ki-67, a marker commonly used in breast cancer and other tumours to assess how quickly cancer cells are growing.
Researchers found the protein may help preserve genome stability by maintaining the structural integrity of centromeres, key parts of chromosomes that help ensure DNA is shared correctly during cell division.
The research was led by professor Paola Vagnarelli at Brunel University of London in collaboration with scientists at the University of Edinburgh and the Technical University of Berlin.
Professor Vagnarelli said: “Doctors already measure Ki-67 to see how aggressive a cancer might be. But our results suggest it is actually helping maintain genome stability.
“That means it may be more than a marker. It could potentially also be a therapeutic target.”
The study examined three proteins that attach to chromosomes during cell division and help rebuild the molecular system that tells each new cell what kind of cell it is.
Every human cell carries identical DNA. What makes a liver cell different from a brain cell is which genes are switched on and which are kept inactive.
When a cell divides, that entire system of switches must be rebuilt. The three proteins involved in this process were Ki-67, Repo-Man and PNUTS.
Vagnarelli’s team developed a method that individually removes each protein from a living cell at the precise point of division. Older techniques could not isolate that moment cleanly.
They found that cells rely on all three proteins to reset themselves after division, but each failed in a different way when removed.
Without PNUTS, gene activity spiralled out of control and thousands of genes switched on at once.
Without Repo-Man, cells escaped safety checkpoints that usually stop damaged or abnormal cells from continuing to divide.
“What we didn’t expect was how clean the separation was,” said Vagnarelli.
Each protein fails in its own specific way. There is no redundancy, no safety net. Which means there are three separate points at which this process can go wrong.
“When the system breaks down, cells can emerge with the wrong number of chromosomes. That condition, called aneuploidy, is seen in disorders such as Down syndrome and in many cancers.
“We also found that these chromosome errors can trigger inflammatory signals inside the cell.”
Aneuploidy means a cell has too many or too few chromosomes, which can disrupt normal growth and function.
Inflammatory signals are chemical messages that can make a cell behave as if it is responding to injury or infection.
“These cells behave almost as if they are under attack,” said Vagnarelli.
“The immune response switches on because the genome is unstable.
“That link between chromosome imbalance and inflammation could help explain patterns we see in several diseases.”
The researchers said the findings may help cancer scientists better understand how chromosome instability, loss of gene regulation and cells dividing before they are ready contribute to tumour growth.
They said understanding the normal machinery that prevents these errors may help researchers find ways to push cancer cells into making mistakes they cannot survive.
“We now have a clearer map of the machinery that resets the cell after division,” said Vagnarelli.
“That knowledge gives us a starting point for thinking about new therapeutic approaches.”
By Somayeh McKian, a member of the clinical advisory board of Vea, the AI-powered mental health journal app
The danger of efficiency culture in women’s mental tech is that we are inadvertently optimizing the very patterns that drive our collective burnout.
When we look at the explosive growth of the femtech sector, the dominant narrative remains focused on speed, tracking, and passive compliance.
We build apps that treat a woman’s emotional state like a broken supply chain or a medical deficit that needs to be optimised, streamlined, or forced into submission.
But true psychological resilience cannot be quantified by a simple mood slider or an algorithmic checkmark.
As a psychotherapist and gender studies scholar, my research into the lived experiences of women, particularly how cultural mandates and bodily surveillance are pathologised, reveals a deep-seated form of suffering.
When women constantly say “yes” while meaning “no,” or ignore a chronically depleted body to maintain a rigid role, they are living out what I call an “inkless life.”
It is a blank manuscript in which their physical and emotional existence has been entirely authored by external critics, medical charts, and the “Discourse of the Other.”
They aren’t suffering from an efficiency problem; they have been stripped of the agency to author their own skin.
If femtech platforms simply digitise these rigid, externalised “shoulds,” they risk becoming high-tech tools of compliance rather than portals of liberation.
The investment community and health tech innovators need to realise that the next frontier of mental health tech isn’t about managing symptoms on the fly; it is about existential archaeology.
We must build digital spaces that serve as a “corporeal pen,” transforming self-reflection from a passive hobby into a defiant, existential act.
True innovation lies in helping women find the meaning, the latent metaphors, and the unique tasks already written into their struggles and transforming inherited pain into a human achievement.
This is exactly the structural paradigm shift we are anchoring at Véa. Instead of building superficial tracking logs, our architecture treats life as a manuscript.
We design clinical narrative journeys that help women decode where their internal boundary scripts were written, recognize how somatic depletion is a truth-teller, and wield phrases like “stop it” not as external policing, but as internal, defiant boundaries.
If we want to build a sustainable ecosystem for women’s health, we must stop funding platforms that merely help women endure their exhaustion more efficiently.
In the intersection of meaningful life and technology, we look at the human spirit not by its current restrictions but by its latent potential for change.
It is time to back technologies that give the fluent soul a sharp new set of instruments to rewrite its own narrative.
Somayeh McKian is a certified psychotherapist, in-training logotherapist, gender studies scholar, published author and part of Véa’s clinical advisory board.
Women’s Health Week Europe 2026 has released its full programme ahead of the October event at The Emirates Stadium in London on 7–8 October, with 700+ senior decision-makers and 80+ speakers confirmed across what will be the organisation’s most ambitious edition to date.
For the first time, the event will run across two dedicated stages, each built around a distinct set of questions facing the women’s health industry.
The Global Stage takes on the macro forces shaping the sector: where capital is flowing, how AI is transforming diagnosis and treatment, the gender data gap, wearable technology, stigmatised markets, and the policy landscape across Europe.
Confirmed speakers include Merete Clausen (EIF), Frida Polli (MIT), Nichole Young-Lin (Google), Alison Cave (MHRA), Emily Darlington MP, Kerry Buckley (Boots), Tim Davis (LSEG), Henriette Hessen (Verdane), Hillary Ball (Atomico), and Christine Hockley (British Business Bank).
The Scale Stage runs in parallel, focused on execution: how to navigate regulatory approval pathways, survive the valley of death, build the evidence stack that wins payers and partners, implement AI into a women’s health business, and position for acquisition. Sessions include a reverse pitch format, in which corporates and investors pitch to founders, and a founder’s guide to getting acquired.
The programme also includes two Pitch competitions, one per day, across the Consumer & Tech and Medical Devices & Therapeutics categories, with 16 finalists competing on the mainstage in front of the full delegate audience.
Every session is case study-driven, with speakers selected on the basis of having lived the problem they are on stage to solve.
Women’s Health Week Europe 2026 takes place 7–8 October at The Emirates Stadium, London. The full programme is available now.
View the 2026 programme here
Pre-agenda pricing ends 26 June
Tickets are currently available at pre-agenda pricing, with savings of up to £600 off standard pricing. The deadline is midnight on Friday 26 June. After that, prices go up.
Secure your place: https://wplatform.co/summits/womens-health-week-europe-2026?utm_source=advocacy&utm_medium=ext_email&utm_campaign=whw-europe-26-femtech-world#tickets
Also at The Emirates: Women’s Sport Summit 2026
The day before WHW Europe, on 6 October, The Emirates Stadium will also host the inaugural Women’s Sport Summit, a dedicated one-day event bringing together 400+ attendees from across sport, business, and investment. Focused on the commercial side of women’s sport, the Summit covers the full sports cycle: money, product, and market. Where women’s sport means business.
Most IVF add-ons lack reliable evidence, with benefits either absent or inconclusive, the largest review of its kind has found.
More than 70 per cent of IVF patients in the UK, Australia and New Zealand reportedly pay for one or more additional treatments.
However, researchers found that most of the procedures, medicines and techniques had no effect on fertility or were backed by limited or low-quality evidence.
Unproven add-ons can also lead to false hope, greater financial strain and unnecessary medical procedures at an already difficult time for patients.
Dr Sarah Lensen, of the University of Melbourne, said: “In many countries, infertility care is largely provided by private clinics where IVF is highly commercialised, and some add-ons are extremely expensive.
“Our review finds a lack of evidence that most of the IVF add-ons we assessed provide any benefit to patients. Unproven add-ons can lead to false hope, greater financial strain and unnecessary medical procedures at what already can be a very difficult time for patients.”
Researchers said concerns have grown in recent years about potentially untrustworthy randomised controlled trials in reproductive medicine, including studies of IVF add-ons.
The team set out to review the effectiveness and safety of 10 commonly offered add-ons using trustworthy studies.
Researchers initially identified 157 potentially eligible randomised controlled trials but excluded 72 because of concerns about their reliability.
Randomised controlled trials compare treatments by assigning participants to different groups, helping researchers assess whether an intervention causes a particular outcome.
The team combined data from the remaining 85 trials in a meta-analysis, which brings together findings from several studies.
The review found no effect on fertility or inconclusive evidence for seven of the 10 add-ons examined.
These included acupuncture, which involves inserting thin needles into points on the body, and corticosteroids, medicines that reduce inflammation and suppress immune activity.
Endometrial receptivity testing was also not backed by reliable evidence. The procedure involves taking a sample from the lining of the womb to examine patterns of gene activity.
Another add-on was intralipid infusion, which delivers a fat-containing liquid into the bloodstream.
Researchers separately examined injections of platelet-rich plasma into the ovaries and infusions of platelet-rich plasma into the womb.
Platelet-rich plasma is made from a patient’s blood and contains a high concentration of platelets, which play a role in healing.
The seventh treatment was pre-implantation genetic testing for aneuploidy, which examines embryos to check whether they have the expected number of chromosomes.
The review found only weak evidence of a possible benefit from three other add-ons.
EmbryoGlue, an embryo transfer medium containing hyaluronic acid, may increase the probability of pregnancy and live birth. However, the evidence on live birth rates was not considered robust.
Endometrial scratching, a minor procedure that deliberately disturbs the lining of the womb, may also increase the probability of pregnancy and live birth.
Physiological intracytoplasmic sperm injection, known as PICSI, selects sperm based on their ability to bind to hyaluronic acid. Weak evidence suggested it may reduce the risk of miscarriage.
Lensen said: “There is widespread misinformation about IVF add-ons with private clinic websites and patient forums on social media – major information sources for patients – often overstating the benefits and omitting the costs and risks of add-ons.
“IVF clinics and clinicians should carefully consider whether it is appropriate to offer unproven add-ons, as their availability is often perceived by patients as implicit endorsement of benefit.”
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