John Riches

Clinical Reader and Consultant Haemato-oncologist at Barts Cancer Institute/Barts Hospital
Specialist interest in chronic leukaemia and lymphoma

[John Riches @richeslab]

This week's paper is from Yuheng Liao and Hui Yang and team: aspartate restriction triggers mtDNA stress and cytosolic mtDNA release, amplifying type I IFN responses via a ZBP1-driven loop to boost the efficacy of STING agonists, chemo, and radiotherapy. https://t.co/gbTROAAL1W

[John Riches @richeslab]

This week's paper is from Apoorva Uboveja, Katherine Aird and team who show that αKG helps HR-proficient cancer cells repair DNA damage through a carnitine-dependent histone acetylation pathway. Great work! https://t.co/hMtXfYGKbw

[John Riches @richeslab]

This week's recommended read is by Lennart Hoffmann, Tanja Maritzen and team who show that aldolase links metabolism to cell adhesion, with FBP acting as a signal to boost Rac1 activity to reorganize actin, enhance adhesion, and drive cell protrusion. https://t.co/bd7N1pVHz6

[John Riches @richeslab]

This week's recommended cancer metabolism paper is by Fenfen Ji and Chi Chun Wong and team who show that BCAA metabolism regulates colorectal cancer dissemination through UMP-mediated stabilisation of vimentin. Targeting BCAA metabolism can stop CRC mets. https://t.co/iyFhsqln6j

[ESH (Haematology) @ESHaematology]

⚠ #ESHMM2026 STARTS THIS THURSDAY!
Last chance to register, don't miss out, proceed now
👉https://t.co/zITdtTOZdh
March 26-28 in Stockholm, Sweden
8th Translational Research Conference
Multiple Myeloma
Chairs: Hartmut Goldschmidt, @MyMKaiser, @SLentzsch
#ESHCONFERENCES #MMsm

[John Riches @richeslab]

This week's paper is by Anna Bång-Rudenstam and Mattias Belting and team who show a chondroitin sulfate–rich glycocalyx in glioblastoma blocks lipid uptake, protects from ferroptosis, and drives survival. Targeting this => lipid peroxidation & cell death. https://t.co/lSpWka9ukr

[John Riches @richeslab]

This week my recommended cancer metabolism paper is by Savvas Kourtis, Sara Sdelci and team who show that metabolic enzyme "moonlighting" on chromatin is widespread across various tissues and metabolic pathways in a tissue-specific manner. Great work!
https://t.co/ClzukoSiEP

[John Riches @richeslab]

This week's recommended paper is by Naiqi Wang and Di Yu and team who show that dietary PUFAs and MUFAs influence T cell lipid composition and resistance to ferroptosis, to regulate immune responses, with implications for vaccines and immunotherapies https://t.co/DQVcLU9fdz

[John Riches @richeslab]

This week's paper is by Daqi Li and Xiuxing Wang and team who show that tumour associated macrophages supply glioblastoma stem cells with lactate to promote their proliferation and induce KU70 lactylation to block cGAS-STING signalling and remodel the TME. https://t.co/JZkvhPNMYW

[John Riches @richeslab]

This week my recommended cancer metabolism paper is by Azusa Terasaki and Derick Okwan-Duodo and team who report that mitochondrial transfer from immune cells to cancer cells facilitates lymph node metastasis via the cGAS/STING immune evasion pathway. https://t.co/1df9jeVmrp

[John Riches @richeslab]

This week's top paper is by Kimberley Huggler and Jason Cantor and team who show that hexokinase (HK) 2-dependence of cancer cells in HPLM is due to the subcellular distribution of HK1, with cytosolic HK supporting the Warburg effect. Great work! https://t.co/czl7U0zxc4

[John Riches @richeslab]

This week's recommended read is by Jian Gu and LIng Lu and team who show that tumour-derived ammonia drives Treg-specific enrichment. Tregs detoxify ammonia via the urea cycle and spermine synthesis, boosting Tregs to drive resistance. Great work! https://t.co/gxCZlmjNWI

[John Riches @richeslab]

This week's recommended read is by Amaia Zabala-Letona, Arkaitz Carracedo and team who have shown that polyamines (spermidine & spermine) regulate alternative splicing by binding to splicing factors to prevent the action of upstream kinases. Great work! https://t.co/axPvTyrHqm

[John Riches @richeslab]

Happy New Year All! My first recommended read for 2026 is by Yaqui Wang, Thirumala-Devi Kanneganti and team who identify a new lytic cell death pathway, mitoxyperilysis, triggered by the synergy of innate immune activation and metabolic stress. Great work! https://t.co/F9WpMuwsrl

[Blood Cancer United @BloodCancerUtd]

Progress worth pausing for ❤️‼️

The @US_FDA has approved the first ever CAR T-cell therapy for adults with marginal zone lymphoma.

It’s a personalized approach that trains the immune system to better target cancer cells, and it’s part of ongoing momentum behind immunotherapy. Get the details 👉 https://t.co/qyFuNPgtPO

[John Riches @richeslab]

So this week's recommended paper is not about cancer metabolism - but a study reporting the effects of space travel on human biology is always a great read! Well done to Jessica Pham, Catrina Jameson and team! https://t.co/of42xcnljd

[John Riches @richeslab]

This weeks highly recommended read is by Yaqiu Wang, Thirumala-Devi Kannaganti and colleagues who describe mitoxyperilysis - a distinct form of lytic cell death induced by innate immune signaling and metabolic disruption. https://t.co/x4gXiOg0vl

[Toby Eyre @tobyeyre82]

Stunning result #ASH2025

[John Riches @richeslab]

This week's paper is by Yajing Gao, Peter Tontonoz and team who show that the lipid transporter Aster-A limits excess accumulation of cholesterol in the membrane of Th17 cells dampening TCR-signalling to guard against excessive Th17-cell responses. https://t.co/H2npbDUOx8

[John Riches @richeslab]

This week's recommended read is by Cai-Yang Wu and Dong-Ming Kuang and team who show that despite suppressing primary tumour growth, glucose deprivation promotes lung metastasis by depleting natural killer cells via lung macrophages. Read more at:
https://t.co/G4yLTqdO67