Lung cancer articles from across Nature Portfolio

Spatial organization of the tumour microenvironment is instrumental for tumour progression or sensitivity to therapies. A new study reveals that tumour-associated highly glycolytic SLC2A1⁺ macrophages create metabolic borders that limit cytotoxic T cells and immunotherapeutic responses in lung cancer, providing a ‘metabolic–spatial’ framework for overcoming resistance to checkpoint blockade.

Dormant metastases can lead to tumor relapse after many years by successfully escaping immune surveillance. A new study identifies an atypical epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition state that presents low stiffness mediated by actin depolymerization, which prevents immune cell-mediated killing of dormant metastatic lung adenocarcinoma.

In a phase 2 trial evaluating healthy donor fecal microbial transplantation plus either anti-PD-1 in patients with non-small cell lung cancer or anti-PD-1 and anti-CTLA-4 in patients with melanoma, encouraging efficacy was seen in both cohorts, with responses linked to significantly greater loss of baseline bacterial species.

Spatial organization of the tumour microenvironment is instrumental for tumour progression or sensitivity to therapies. A new study reveals that tumour-associated highly glycolytic SLC2A1⁺ macrophages create metabolic borders that limit cytotoxic T cells and immunotherapeutic responses in lung cancer, providing a ‘metabolic–spatial’ framework for overcoming resistance to checkpoint blockade.

Dormant metastases can lead to tumor relapse after many years by successfully escaping immune surveillance. A new study identifies an atypical epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition state that presents low stiffness mediated by actin depolymerization, which prevents immune cell-mediated killing of dormant metastatic lung adenocarcinoma.

Targeted therapies continue to transform the landscape of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In 2025, the US Food and Drug Administration approved two targeted therapies, an antibody–drug conjugate and a tyrosine kinase inhibitor, for specific molecular subtypes of NSCLC. In this Clinical Outlook, we discuss their impact on the field.