Cancer discovery news
Our researchers are making the discoveries that defeat cancer. Read the latest findings from our world-leading research.
Visit our main news hub to read about news on new funding, our fundraising activities and much more. If you want to keep updated on our news, you can follow us on social media or sign up for our Search newsletter.
If you’re a journalist and want to find out more, you can contact our media relations team.
MRI data can predict patient response to treatment and survival in advanced ovarian cancer
A simple test using an MRI scan can be used to predict how well people with advanced ovarian cancer will respond to treatment, according to the results of a new study.
Most innovative cancer drugs facing delays in reaching patients
Despite increasing numbers of cancer drugs being licensed, an analysis has found that highly innovative drugs took longer to reach NHS patients than more conventional treatments.
ICR research showcased in major new Science Museum gallery documenting history of medicine
The Science Museum's new £24 million medicine galleries showcases pioneering research from The Institute of Cancer Research, London, as part of its story of modern medicine.
Adding chemotherapy to radiotherapy for bladder cancer shows benefits for patients
Data from a clinical trial which assessed the benefits of adding chemotherapy alongside radiotherapy for patients with muscle invasive bladder cancer has shown that this treatment can be given without substantially impacting subsequent health related quality of life.
Cancers engaged in evolutionary arms race with immune system
Aggressive, highly mutated cancers evolve escape routes in response to immune attacks in an ‘evolutionary arms race’ between cancer and the immune system, a new study reports.
The ICR responds to decision by NICE not to recommend pembrolizumab as first-line treatment for advanced head and neck cancer
The ICR has criticised the decision by NICE not to recommend the immunotherapy, pembrolizumab, as a first-line treatment for patients with advanced head and neck cancer and is calling for an urgent reassessment of the evidence for the drug’s benefit.
The ICR responds to approval of abiraterone as first-line treatment for advanced prostate cancer on the NHS in Scotland
The Institute of Cancer Research, London, strongly welcomes the recommendation by the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) to make the prostate cancer drug abiraterone available to men with advanced prostate cancer as first-line treatment on the NHS in Scotland.
Radiotherapy can be used in hard-to-treat bladder cancer
More targeted forms of radiotherapy can effectively treat bladder cancer which has spread to the lymph nodes of the pelvis, according to a new clinical trial.
Scientists map cancer-related proteins in unprecedented detail
Researchers have gained new understandings of two key complexes of cancer-related proteins by producing the most detailed ever maps of the structures they form when they come together.
Half the amount of chemo prevents testicular cancer from coming back, new trial shows
Testicular cancer can be prevented from coming back using half the amount of chemotherapy that is currently used, a new clinical trial has shown.
Scientists identify potential drug target for BRCA-mutated tumours
A new study has uncovered a previously unknown role for the enzyme EXD2, identifying it as a potential drug target for cancer therapy.
World first treatment with ‘acoustic cluster therapy’ to improve chemotherapy delivery
The first patient has been treated, as part of a clinical trial, with an innovative new technology called Acoustic Cluster Therapy that uses microscopic clusters of bubbles and liquid droplets to enhance the delivery of chemotherapy drugs to tumours. The new therapy could improve targeting of chemotherapy and reduce doses.