Cancer discovery news

Scientists have uncovered a mechanism that helps cancer cells survive radiation, pointing to a potential new way to make treatment more effective.

The Institute of Cancer Research, London, strongly welcomes the news that the targeted drug capivasertib, has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for treating a type of advanced prostate cancer.

Thousands of men with prostate cancer in England will be offered a more precise form of radiotherapy that cuts treatment time by up to 75 per cent, based on the results of a trial led by The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), London and Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust. The therapy is known as SABR or SBRT.

A new UK-based study is shedding light on a quiet but consequential problem in cancer research: whether some people have less opportunity than others to participate in clinical trials.

An immunotherapy helps bladder cancer patients remain cancer free and enables them to avoid surgery, a phase II trial has found.

A targeted cancer treatment given via a simple injection under the skin shrank tumours in more than one third of patients with recurrent and/or metastatic head and neck cancer whose disease has stopped responding to standard treatments, according to research led by scientists at The Institute of Cancer Research, London

A new, targeted cancer therapy for advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GIST) has shown promising early results, with 61 per cent of patients who received velzatinib as first-line treatment experiencing tumour shrinkage of 30 per cent or over. The results could pave the way for a larger trial to evaluate this therapy as a first-line alternative to imatinib, which has been the standard treatment for more than two decades.

A targeted antibody therapy combined with standard chemotherapy has shown early signs of tumour shrinkage and disease control in patients with advanced bowel cancer, according to new Phase I clinical trial results from The Institute of Cancer Research, London and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust.

Results from the international Phase III RAMPART trial were presented today at the 2026 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting by researchers from The Institute of Cancer Research, London and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust.

A one-week course of post-surgery radiotherapy is just as safe and effective as the traditional three-week course for people with early-stage breast cancer, according to long-term results from a ground-breaking study, led by The Institute of Cancer Research, London

Research led by The Institute of Cancer Research, London and King’s College London suggests that an early scan taken after one cycle of chemotherapy could help to predict how well a patient’s cancer will respond to treatment.

Men with localised prostate cancer could benefit from a shorter course of radiotherapy, after new research data shows that just two higher-dose treatments are as safe as a standard five-session regimen, with no increase in side effects.