News and features

Scientists at the ICR have made a step towards new targeted drugs for children with the highest-risk form of a childhood cancer called neuroblastoma.

Scientists at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, have made huge progress towards testing two new targeted drugs for children with the highest-risk form of a childhood cancer called neuroblastoma. Pre-clinical study results show that the growth of cancerous neuroblastoma cells with an overactive MYCN gene were disrupted after treatment with two Aurora kinase inhibitors called MLN8054 and MLN8237. Dr Louis Chesler, who co-led of the study, tells us more about the difficulties in treating neuroblastoma, and how these new drugs may be used to treat children.

Tiny pieces of genetic material called micro-RNAs – miRNAs for short – could help improve diagnosis in people with myeloma, a study at The Institute of Cancer Research, London has shown.

ICR scientists have identified a new way of treating breast cancers that could overcome their resistance to a vitally important class of cancer drugs.

A virus strain used to vaccinate people against smallpox could significantly improve treatment of aggressive skin cancer, an ICR study reports.

A new potential cancer drug has shown promising results in an early stage clinical trial. The drug, called AUY922, could help lead to a new way to treat a wide range of cancers including breast and lung cancer

Drug discovery is a complex business – particularly in a field like cancer, where new-style treatments are increasingly aimed at specific molecular features of tumours.

Scientists at the ICR have identified a set of genes that allow melanoma cells to change rapidly between two shapes in order to escape from the skin and spread around the body.

The ICR's Chief Executive Professor Alan Ashworth has made a statement regarding gene patenting in advance of an upcoming Supreme Court decision.

Key insights into the workings of regulatory molecules that are implicated in the development of solid tumours have been revealed by scientists at The Institute of Cancer Research, London.

A new potential cancer drug designed to fight tumours with faulty BRCA genes has generated impressive responses in an early-stage clinical trial.

Researchers from the ICR will be presenting their findings at the 2013 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting, which opens today in Chicago.