At the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), scientists presented results from an early clinical trial of an ovarian cancer drug that could potentially shrink tumours. read more

Publishing in Cell, researchers have looked at the effect of aldehyde exposure on DNA repair, reporting that aldehydes trigger degradation of a protein involved in the repair process. read more

The Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) was launched in England in 2010 to provide patients with access to anti-cancer drugs not available through the NHS because the drugs had not been appraised, were in the process of being appraised, or had been appraised but not recommended by the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE). read more

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has published it’s audit of worldwide childhood cancer rates in the Lancet Oncology. read more

Researchers publishing in Gut report long-term antibiotic use in early-to-middle adulthood was associated with increased risk of colorectal adenoma – the precursor for some colorectal cancers. read more

Publishing in Science a group of researchers studied the relationship between the number of normal stem cell divisions and the risk of 17 cancer types in 69 countries. They reported a strong correlation between cancer incidence and normal stem cell divisions in all countries, regardless of their environment. read more

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has published new guidance which recommends Cetuximab and panitumumab, for previously untreated metastatic colorectal cancer, be moved from the Cancer Drugs Fund into routine use. read more

The findings of a Danish 30-year cohort study was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, with the authors reporting that breast cancer screening was not associated with a reduction in the incidence of advanced cancers but was associated with over-diagnosis of small tumours. read more

A study published in Nature reported the development in a mouse model of a drug that targets metastasis-promoting cells in cancer read more

Publishing in the journal Cancer Research a group of scientists have examined the effects of emulsifiers present in processed foods and report that, in mice, they alter levels of gut bacteria and promote inflammation and colorectal cancer. read more

Childhood leukaemia is rare, affecting approximately 500 children every year in the UK. There have been numerous studies and reports on the possible risks of childhood leukaemia in the vicinity of nuclear installations and there are acknowledged historical clusters of childhood leukaemia around both Sellafield and Dounreay nuclear sites. Recent reports of raised thyroid cancer incidence following reactor accidents in other countries have led to increased interest in the possible consequences of the 1957 Windscale fire. The Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment (COMARE) is publishing its 17th report, ‘Further consideration of the incidence of cancers around the nuclear installations at Sellafield and Dounreay’ – a comprehensive review of the incidence of leukaemia, non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and other cancers among young people around the Sellafield and Dounreay nuclear installations, updating its previous work. COMARE is a Department of Health Expert Committee providing independent advice to all government departments and agencies. read more

A paper published in the journal Molecular Cancer Biology has reported that aluminium salt compounds are able to transform mouse breast cells maintained in vitro to give them characteristics of tumour cells. read more

Two studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine reported that in men with localised prostate cancer (that hadn’t spread) active monitoring was not significantly more dangerous than surgery or radiotherapy in terms of survival, and that surgery and radiotherapy reduce the risk of cancer progression compared with active monitoring but can also cause more unpleasant side-effects including sexual or bowel impairment. read more

The extent to which physical activity can mitigate the harmful effects of alcohol on health is examined in a paper published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine in which the authors report that the association between alcohol intake and mortality risk was reduced in individuals who met physical activity recommendations. read more

The use of the CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing system for the regulation of genes with the aim of rewiring cancer cells in vitro is reported in the journal Nature Methods. read more

A group of researchers publishing in The BMJ have examined the effect of physical activity on breast cancer, bowel cancer, diabetes, heart disease and stroke and report that people who significantly exceeded current minimum levels of exercise had a lower risk of those five diseases. read more

The effect of air pollution on mortality in patients with lung cancer is explored in a paper published in the journal Thorax with the researcher team reporting that exposure to air pollution after lung cancer diagnosis can shorten survival time. read more

To give cancer patients the best treatment, doctors need important information about the genetic and molecular make-up of their cancer. Tissue biopsies are often used but they do not always give a comprehensive view of the cancer, they can be invasive, and it may not be possible to repeat them very often. With major changes in the ease and cost of DNA sequencing, scientists are now working on the possibility of ‘fishing’ out genetic material from tumours via the blood in order to get information about the make-up of the patient’s cancer. The aim is for these ‘liquid biopsies’ to give a comprehensive view of the way a cancer progresses, which can help identify which treatments to give, and may spot when the cancer is becoming resistant to its current treatment. The tests can also give valuable information to cancer researchers that could develop treatments in the future. Already some UK patients on clinical trials are being given these liquid biopsies as part of their treatment. read more

A study published in the journal Addiction has reported that drinking alcohol is linked to the development of seven forms of cancer. read more

Cancer is the UK’s biggest killer, claiming around 160,000 lives every year. Survival rates have improved enormously in some types of cancer, but patients with other tumour types continue to do very poorly, and once the disease has spread round the body it is still often incurable. Researchers from The Institute of Cancer Research, London, and The Royal Marsden have been working over the last year to identify the biggest challenges we face in treating cancer, and come up with an action plan to overcome them. The ICR will be launching their action plan. read more