Cancer patients who receive high-tech proton therapy experience similar cure rates and fewer serious side effects compared with those who undergo traditional X-ray radiation therapy, according to a study led by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.…...
A quarter of cancer patients experience avoidable delay to diagnosis
One in four cancer patients experienced a delay to their diagnosis that could have been avoided, according to a new study by Cancer Research UK. It found that nearly 3,400 of 14,300 patients experienced a delay that could have been avoided. Half of these patients waited around two months longer to…...
So-called ‘junk DNA’ affects inherited cancer risk
A person’s risk of developing cancer is affected by genetic variations in regions of DNA that don’t code for proteins, previously dismissed as ‘junk DNA’, according to new research published in the British Journal of Cancer. This new study shows that inherited cancer risk is not only affected by mutations in key…...
Targeted ovarian cancer drug made more widely available on the NHS in Scotland
A targeted cancer drug has been approved for use on the NHS in Scotland for patients with advanced, newly diagnosed ovarian cancer that’s responded to chemotherapy. Olaparib (Lynparza) tablets will be used to help prolong the effects of initial treatment, as a so-called maintenance therapy. The targeted therapy is already available in…...
Targeted ovarian cancer drug made available to more people on NHS in England
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has made olaparib (Lynparza), a targeted cancer drug, more widely available for people with ovarian cancer on the NHS in England. Trial results have shown that olaparib, which stops cancer cells repairing damage to their DNA, can give patients more time before their cancer gets…...
Blood test can quickly match advanced breast cancer patients to targeted treatments
A blood test can help identify rare mutations in advanced breast cancer, which may enable patients to access effective treatments more quickly in the future, Cancer Research UK scientists have found. As part of the plasmaMATCH clinical trial, funded by Stand Up To Cancer, a joint fundraising campaign from Cancer Research UK and Channel…...
Our biggest cancer news stories of 2019
2019 was a year jam packed with brilliant progress and new challenges for cancer research. Here are some of the top stories of the year: Re-writing the breast cancer rulebook, A cancer breath test enters trials, three new teams take on some of the biggest challenges in cancer research, tracking cancer evolution with the TRACERx lung study, See more at: https://scienceblog.cancerresearchuk.org/2019/12/17/cruk-biggest-cancer-news-stories-2019/...
First-in-human trial for new lung cancer immunotherapy
Cancer Research UK and Vaccitech Oncology Limited (VOLT), announced Wednesday that a new partnership to bring a novel immunotherapeutic vaccine strategy to patients with lung cancer. The vaccine treatment developed by VOLT, a strategic collaboration between Vaccitech Ltd and the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, is designed to stimulate the body’s immune system to…...
News digest – prostate cancer MRI trial, drug delivery, cancer ‘cures’ on Facebook and weight loss
New headlines on cancer research: -A prostate cancer MRI trial is in progress -Treatment that delivers drugs straight to tumor given for the first time -WHO approves cheap copy of common breast cancer drug -Facebook bans ads promoting fake cancer “cures” –Post-menopausal women who are overweight could reduce their risk…...
Late stage breast cancer survival estimate is ‘rarely accurate’
Specialists warn that single number average survival estimates for advanced stage breast cancer are unhelpful and usually inaccurate. Instead, they advise doctors to provide several case-specific survival estimates to help people plan with realism and hope. Breast cancer is the form of cancer that affects women the most often — about 2.1 million women worldwide receive…...