Institute for Systems Biology Apr 16 2026 Cancer drugs are designed to shut tumors down. But sometimes, in the very act of attacking a tumor, treatment can also help a small fraction of cancer cells become harder to kill. A new study from researchers at the Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) shows that cancer cells may begin escaping therapy much earlier - as the therapy itself triggers a stress response that drives some cancer cells into a temporary drug-tolerant state. Published in Nature