Cancer discovery news

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Head scan images
Seeing the immune system in action: new imaging study sheds light on cancer immunotherapy

01/05/26

Experts have demonstrated that an innovative, non-invasive imaging technique can be harnessed to monitor oncolytic virotherapy, a rapidly advancing field of cancer treatment.
A picture of weighing scales on a grey background
Excess weight is the strongest clue to the rise in cancer rates in under 50s

28/04/26

Being overweight or obese is an important cause of rising cancer rates among younger adults in England, according to a major new study by researchers from The Institute of Cancer Research, London
Three lung graphics
New AI tool to assist pathologists in complicated lung cancer analyses

27/04/26

Researchers have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) tool that helps doctors more accurately measure a key marker used to decide which lung cancer patients might benefit from certain treatments.
Glioblastoma cells under a microscope
ICR plays key role in groundbreaking new brain cancer trials

21/04/26

Scientists from The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), London, are taking part in a groundbreaking new set of brain cancer clinical trials designed to improve survival and quality of life for people with glioblastoma.
Invasive lobular breast cancer cells (yellow) growing in single files along collagen fibres (red)
Scientists identify a potential new treatment option for lobular breast cancer

13/04/26

A drug currently being tested in clinical trials for a rare blood cancer could also be used to treat lobular breast cancer, according to a study published in the journal Cancer Research.
Mini tumours grown from a bowel cancer
Scientists develop new way to determine which patients will respond best to bowel cancer treatment

13/04/26

Scientists have developed an AI-powered method that could determine which patients with advanced bowel cancer are most likely to respond to a targeted drug used on the NHS – potentially sparing thousands of patients from treatments that won’t work for them.
picture of DNA strands on a black background
UK scientists create most detailed map yet of mutations that drive cancer

30/03/26

Scientists have created the most comprehensive map to date of the genetic mutations that fuel cancer – opening the door to extending precision treatments to thousands more patients and offering clues as to why bowel cancer rates are rising in younger people.
Intermediate magnification micrograph of a low malignant potential (LMP) mucinous ovarian tumour
ICR scientists support promising new immunotherapy trial for advanced ovarian cancer

13/03/26

Scientists at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, are supporting an international clinical trial of a promising new immunotherapy treatment for advanced ovarian cancer.
stainless steel cog wheels
New study reveals key enzyme as hidden driver of cancer stress responses

12/03/26

An important study has uncovered an unexpected molecular player that helps make cancer cells stress-resilient, thereby promoting the survival, growth and progression of cancer.
Breast cancer cells Credit Ewa Krawczyk 945x532
Scientists discover new avenue for treating an aggressive form of breast cancer

11/03/26

A gene that is typically active only in reproductive cells may hold the key to new treatments for triple negative breast cancer, according to new research by scientists at The Institute of Cancer Research, London
Scans of a patient before and after treatment showing dramatic reduction in tumours
Immunotherapy uses invisibility cloak to deliver direct hit to prostate cancer

28/02/26

A new immunotherapy drug has shown promise for safely treating prostate cancer, a phase I trial reports.
Castration resistant prostate cancer cells stained for a number of key driver molecules. (Mateus Crespo, Gerhardt Attard and Johann de Bono / the ICR, 2012)
Targeted radiotherapy injection shrinks treatment-resistant prostate cancer tumours in early clinical trial

27/02/26

A new drug for prostate cancer, which delivers a precisely targeted dose of radiation to cancer cells, can keep cancer at bay, a phase I trial reports.