Cancer discovery news

A new type of liquid biopsy test can predict the recurrence of breast cancer in high-risk patients, months or even years before they relapse, research by a team from The Institute of Cancer Research, London, has shown.

A spit test, where a sample can be collected at home, is more accurate at identifying future risk of prostate cancer for one group of men than the current standard blood test, a new study reports.

ICR researchers have identified the unique features of an exceptionally rare set of childhood brain tumours – a discovery that could pave the way for more effective treatments.

Killing breast cancer cells in a way that trains the immune system to recognise and destroy residual cancer cells could offer longer lasting protection to people with the disease.

Professor Axel Behrens, Scientific Director of the Cancer Research UK Convergence Science Centre and leader of the Cancer Stem Cell Group at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, has been awarded a prestigious Fellowship by the Academy of Medical Sciences.

Researchers at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, have increased our understanding of how a cancer drug called a PARP inhibitor stops working in women with breast cancer that has spread. This research could ultimately help predict who’s more likely to respond to these drugs, and could lead to more effective ways to treat the disease.

Radiotherapy can be used alongside hormone treatment, delaying the need for chemotherapy and therefore significantly protecting their quality of life for some patients with advanced prostate cancer, according to researchers from The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and The Institute of Cancer Research, London.

Scientists have discovered the key features of immune B cells which make them successful at targeting tumours – including when cancer has spread to a different part of the body.

Prostate Cancer UK has today announced details of a £42 million screening trial, which aims to find the best way to screen men for prostate cancer and double the number of lives saved.

Dr Stephen-John Sammut, a Clinician Scientist at the ICR, and Consultant in Medical Oncology at The Royal Marsden, has been awarded the Graham Bull Prize by the Royal College of Physicians for his work in personalised breast cancer medicine.

Scientists have uncovered a promising treatment strategy for an aggressive type of leukaemia – through targeting the enzymes that cells normally use to sense and adapt to changing oxygen levels.

Scientists have discovered how skin cancer cells shapeshift based on their environment – enabling them to spread through the body and cause a metastatic cancer.