https://medicalxpress.com/cancer-news/ en-us Latest medical news and research in Oncology Results from an early-stage clinical trial, published in Nature Communications, showed encouraging outcomes among patients with newly diagnosed cancer whose tumors had spread to distant organs. Most strikingly, one patient experienced a pathologic complete response—meaning no viable cancer cells could be found—and remains cancer-free for more than two years without further treatment. These findings offer an important signal that a new approach may be able to overcome one of the disease's greatest challenges: its resistance to immunotherapy. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-combination-therapy-metastatic-pancreatic-cancer.html Fri, 28 Aug 2026 13:20:03 EDT news707140621 In a tale of identities as divergent as "The Prince and the Pauper," a well-known cancer-causing gene also influences cells in a zombie-like state meant to prevent cancer. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-hidden-role-cell-senescent-cells.html Fri, 28 Aug 2026 13:00:05 EDT news707140501 Researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz and Indiana University School of Medicine have identified a biological process that may help explain why colorectal cancer can cause severe muscle and bone loss, especially in its most advanced stages. The condition, known as cancer cachexia, can leave patients weak, make everyday activities more difficult and make it harder to tolerate cancer treatment. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-liver-pathway-colorectal-cancer-weakens.html Fri, 28 Aug 2026 10:20:07 EDT news707128981 Precancerous blood cells can actively reshape their surroundings, prematurely aging cells in the bone marrow to create conditions that favor their own growth and potentially increase the risk of blood cancer, according to a new study by researchers at The Jackson Laboratory (JAX). https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-pre-cancerous-blood-cells-fuel.html Thu, 27 Aug 2026 17:40:02 EDT news707068801 Researchers at the Center for Regenerative Medicine (CReM) at Boston Medical Center (BMC) and Boston University (BU) have developed a scalable method for generating CD4+ helper T cells from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), overcoming a longstanding challenge in the development of stem cell-based immunotherapies. The findings, published in Stem Cell Reports, could help advance efforts to create off-the-shelf CAR-T cell therapies that can be produced at scale and made more readily available to patients. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-scalable-method-generate-key-immune.html Thu, 27 Aug 2026 17:00:05 EDT news707066821 Researchers at Umeå University have developed a strategy to slow the growth of tumor cells. By targeting the genetic instructions that control the production of a key cancer-related protein, they were able to inhibit tumor cell growth. The findings are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-undruggable-cancer-rna-based-strategy.html Thu, 27 Aug 2026 15:20:05 EDT news707061842 When researchers at Lund University investigated how UM171, a molecule used to make blood stem cells multiply, works, they made an unexpected connection. The results provide new insights into how one of the most common malignant brain tumors in children could be treated in the future. Their research is published in the journal Cancer Gene Therapy. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-unexpected-discovery-reveals-mechanism-brain.html Thu, 27 Aug 2026 15:00:03 EDT news707059621 Folic acid—an essential vitamin added to flour and cereals and prescribed at high doses for cancer patients and people with blood disorders—does not elevate toxic formaldehyde in the body, according to a new study of mice and human cancer patients who consumed high doses. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-folic-acid-elevate-formaldehyde-mice.html Thu, 27 Aug 2026 14:00:15 EDT news707054582 The percentage of women in their 20s who have never been screened for cervical cancer has been increasing at a disturbing rate over the past 20 years—to the point that almost a third of women ages 21 to 29 have never been screened. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-women-20s-screened-cervical-cancer.html Thu, 27 Aug 2026 11:00:07 EDT news706959242 Biologic drugs play an important role in treating cancers such as breast cancer and lymphoma, but their high costs can add to the financial burden of cancer care. Now, lower-cost versions known as biosimilars are gaining ground, and a new study led by researchers at the UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center suggests their growing use is associated with lower costs for both insurers and patients. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-cancer-biosimilars-patients.html Thu, 27 Aug 2026 11:00:05 EDT news706955796 Breast cancer is often classified as either estrogen receptor-positive (hormone-sensitive) or not. However, a new study from Karolinska Institutet suggests that this simplified classification may overlook important biological differences between patients that could affect treatment decisions. The results are published in The Lancet Regional Health – Europe. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-standard-breast-cancer-classification-overlook.html Wed, 26 Aug 2026 18:30:04 EDT news706955776 Scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have shown that specific brain cells respond differently to H3.3 K27M, a mutation in the histone H3.3 protein that drives many cases of diffuse midline glioma (DMG), depending on the cells' location in the developing brain. These findings help explain why DMG, a pediatric brain cancer commonly associated with this mutation, typically arises in the brainstem and other midline regions. The study was published today in Nature Communications. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-mutation-disrupts-cell-region-specific.html Wed, 26 Aug 2026 13:00:09 EDT news706963021 Andrea Califano began his career as a physicist. But that's not why he's now calling cancer a quantum disease. "We're really just following the data," says Califano, the Clyde '56 and Helen Wu Professor of Chemical Biology at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and head of Biohub, New York. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-cancer-quantum-cells-occupy-limited.html Wed, 26 Aug 2026 12:40:08 EDT news706962182 Two major international Peter Mac-led studies have found AI models were just as good as human pathologists at a task that predicts outcomes for patients with breast cancer. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-ai-human-pathologists-breast-cancer.html Wed, 26 Aug 2026 09:40:08 EDT news706954271 In a new study published in Nature Communications, Boston Children's Hospital researchers identified a new target responsible for scar formation in the bone marrow of patients with a type of blood cancer known as myelofibrosis. Combining traditional myelofibrosis therapy with drugs that block scar formation may be a more effective treatment for patients with the disease. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-blocking-cellular-freecycling-bone-marrow.html Tue, 25 Aug 2026 16:40:05 EDT news706893422 Immune checkpoint blockade is a form of cancer treatment that works by releasing the natural brakes on the immune system, allowing T cells to find and destroy cancer cells. Although it has transformed cancer immunotherapy, patients usually have low response rates. In a new study published in Nature Nanotechnology, University of Michigan researchers developed an oral drug that can increase T cells' ability to attack tumors. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-oral-nanomedicine-boosts-effectiveness-cancer.html Tue, 25 Aug 2026 16:20:05 EDT news706893181 Patients with sickle cell disease are often hesitant to undergo transformative gene therapy—the current lengthy process requires multiple hospital visits to collect enough stem cells. Researchers from Boston Children's Hospital have helped smooth the road to gene therapy with a new approach that collects enough of the patient's stem cells in a single hospital admission for most patients, improving the turnaround time for genetically altering and infusing the cells back into the patient. The long-term follow-up results of the first-in-human phase I pilot clinical trial were recently published in Blood. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-human-trial-stem-cell-delivery.html Tue, 25 Aug 2026 16:00:06 EDT news706891861