cc-writing-style

name	cc-writing-style
description	Use when polishing prose for a Cancer Cell (Cell Press) manuscript — the Summary/Introduction/Results/Discussion craft, claim calibration, and Cell Press nomenclature/house style. It edits language and framing; it does not design experiments or build figures.

Writing Style & Claim Calibration (cc-writing-style)

When to trigger

• The Results read like a lab notebook rather than a mechanistic narrative
• The Discussion overstates therapeutic / clinical impact
• Claims outrun the evidence (single-system conclusions stated broadly)
• Nomenclature, tense, or section structure are inconsistent with Cell Press

Cell Press article structure (narrative roles)

Section	Role
Summary	One-paragraph mechanistic arc (see cc-structured-abstract)
Introduction	Concise; the gap and the hypothesis, not a textbook review
Results	The mechanistic story, figure by figure, each claim tied to data
Discussion	Interpretation, limitations, and calibrated translational implications
STAR Methods	Structured methods + Key Resources Table (see cc-reporting-standards)

Results: write the mechanism as a story

• Open each Results subsection with the question/claim, then the evidence, then the conclusion.
• Each paragraph maps to a figure/panel; every assertion cites a panel.
• Foreground causality and orthogonal validation ("loss of X reduced Y in cells and in PDX tumors") over a list of assays.
• Use past tense for what was done/found; present tense for established facts.

Claim calibration (the signature Cancer Cell discipline)

Match verb strength to evidence strength:

Evidence	Acceptable verb
Correlation in human data	"associated with," "correlates with"
Perturbation in cells	"promotes," "is required for" (in this system)
In vivo perturbation	"drives," "is necessary in vivo"
In vivo efficacy + human data	"represents a therapeutic vulnerability"

• Do not call a target "therapeutic" without in vivo efficacy and/or human evidence.
• Distinguish "necessary" from "sufficient"; do not conflate the two.
• State limitations explicitly (model caveats, single-cohort findings) — reviewers reward candor.
• Avoid "novel," "first," "unprecedented," "proves"; let the data carry the weight.

Nomenclature & house style

• Use approved gene/protein nomenclature (HGNC for human, MGI for mouse); italicize genes, roman for proteins; correct species capitalization (human BRCA1 vs mouse Brca1).
• Define each abbreviation once; keep terminology consistent across text, figures, and front matter.
• Cite using the Cell Press reference style (verify current format); reference key prior work fairly.
• Active voice and direct sentences; avoid hedging chains ("might possibly suggest").

Worked micro-edit: a Results paragraph in Cancer Cell voice

Before (assay catalog, verb outruns evidence):

To study MARK7, we performed RNA-seq, which showed many changes. Western blot confirmed knockdown. We also did a migration assay and saw differences. These novel results prove MARK7 is a promising therapeutic target that drives metastasis in patients.

After (claim → evidence → conclusion, calibrated):

MARK7 depletion reprogrammed the CAF secretome (Figure 3A; RNA-seq, n=4 donors), reducing lactate exporter transcripts, and this loss was confirmed at protein level with densitometry across three independent blots (Figure 3B). Functionally, MARK7 loss was required for CAF-driven tumor-cell migration in the co-culture system (Figure 3C). Because these data are cell-intrinsic, we tested the axis in vivo below before making any therapeutic statement.

The "after" ties each sentence to a panel and an n, uses "required for" for a single-system perturbation, and defers the translational verb until in vivo evidence exists — the Cancer Cell reflex of never letting the Results outrun the systems tested.

Discussion craft (where Cancer Cell papers over- or under-claim)

• Open the Discussion by restating the mechanism with direction, not by re-summarizing every figure.
• Devote one honest paragraph to model limitations: cell-line artifacts, xenograft immune context, cohort size and retrospective design, and whether efficacy is genetic (knockout) vs. pharmacologic.
• Separate what the data show from what a clinician would need — a preclinical vulnerability is a hypothesis for a trial, not a treatment recommendation.
• End on a proportionate significance line that a skeptical referee would sign off on.

Referee reflexes to preempt

Cancer Cell reviewers read prose against the figures. Common language flags they raise:

• "The authors write 'drives tumorigenesis' but show only correlation in the human cohort" — verb/evidence mismatch.
• "The Summary claims a therapy; the paper has no in vivo efficacy" — front-matter overreach.
• "Necessary and sufficient are used interchangeably" — mechanistic imprecision.
• "Every finding is 'novel' and 'striking'" — hype that erodes trust in the real result.
• "Mouse gene written as human (uppercase, non-italic)" — nomenclature sloppiness that signals weak rigor.

Fix these at the language layer before they become review comments.

Checklist

• Introduction is concise and ends on a clear hypothesis/gap
• Each Results paragraph maps to a figure and states claim → evidence → conclusion
• Causality and orthogonal validation are foregrounded
• Verbs match evidence level; no therapeutic claim without in vivo/human support
• "Necessary" vs "sufficient" used correctly
• Discussion states limitations and calibrated implications
• Gene/protein nomenclature and species formatting correct and consistent
• Hype words removed; tense usage consistent

Anti-patterns

• Results as an assay catalog with no narrative thread
• Overstated translational/therapeutic claims beyond the data
• Conclusions generalized from a single system
• "Novel/first/unprecedented/proves" sprinkled throughout
• Inconsistent gene nomenclature or species capitalization
• A Discussion with no limitations paragraph

Output format

【Results narrative】claim→evidence→conclusion per subsection? Y/N
【Claim calibration】overstated verbs flagged: [...]
【Therapeutic claims】backed by in vivo/human? Y/N
【Limitations】present in Discussion? Y/N
【Nomenclature】gene/protein/species correct & consistent? Y/N
【Hype words】removed? Y/N
【Next step】cc-cover-letter or cc-submission