Cancer discovery news
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New research turns cancer’s own weapons against itself
Scientists have discovered a potential new way of treating a type of blood cancer called myeloma that poisons cancer cells with their own secretions.
Advanced scan looks inside tumours to tell if cancer cells have died
A high-tech imaging technique can allow scientists to see into the middle of tumours and tell whether treatments are killing the cancer cells inside, new research reports.
Collagen clue reveals new drug target for untreatable form of lung cancer
Collagen, the stuff of ligaments and skin, and the most abundant protein in the human body, has an extraordinary role in triggering chemical signals that help protect the body from cancer, a new ICR study reveals.
ICR scientists find genes for common childhood leukaemia
The largest study of its kind has linked two inherited genetic variants with an increase in susceptibility to acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.
Researchers reveal new insights into drug resistance in metastatic renal cancer
Responses to treatment among metastatic renal cancers are closely linked with changes in tumour blood vessel supply, finds new research from The Institute of Cancer Research, London.
Highly potent new drug targets cancer cells' DNA repair
A drug which has shown promise in early human trials for cancer could be up to 200 times more potent than others of its type, a study from The Institute of Cancer Research, London, has shown.
New treatments target resistant bowel cancer
Two new drug classes appear to overcome resistance in colorectal cancer cells to one of our built in defences against the disease.
New scan could help in treatment planning for individual patients
A type of non-invasive imaging method could help assess whether cancer patients are likely to respond to radiotherapy, a new study has shown.
Of Ducks and Tumours
#CancerResearch: why aren’t we trending?
Could a fly save your life?
The answer to this seemingly absurd question is, quite definitely, yes. Now, I don’t mean that a fly is going to give you mouth-to-mouth or save you from a burning building. But if you ever have to take pharmaceutical drugs for a health condition such as cancer, it is quite possible that those drugs will have been developed with the help of research conducted using fruit flies – those same small flies that swarm around your compost heap in the summer.
Intermittent drug strategies: the new era of cancer treatment
In 2001, the Novartis drug imatinib revolutionised the treatment of chronic myeloid leukaemia, and so began a highly exciting era in cancer treatment: the era of targeted drug therapies. These differ from traditional chemotherapy drugs in their ability to knock down a specific biological pathway in a cancer cell that is essential for its malignant behaviour.