Medicine
Could this dual approach be the frontier that finally gets immunotherapy to work for MSS colorectal cancer?
It is often said in medicine that the only true constant in facing life-threatening diseases is change. Nowhere is this more evident than in oncology, where advances in chemotherapy, targeted therapies, immunotherapies, and other novel agents continue to spark hope.…
Can a novel anti-diabetic, anti-obesity ‘wonder drug’ be repurposed for cancer?
Throughout human history, the search for a universal cure has captivated the minds of philosophers, healers and scientists across time and cultures. In Greek mythology, the goddess Panacea was believed to possess a potion to treat all afflictions. We still…
Immunotherapy: three studies point to potential strategies to improve response
Over the past 10 years, immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have transformed the therapeutic landscape of cancer, becoming standard treatments for metastatic melanoma, renal cell carcinoma, head and neck cancer, and non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLC). “ICIs have revolutionised care in…
Liver cancer: how Europe can halt the rising death toll
When the cancer community in Europe talks of neglected cancers it usually means relatively rare or uncommon types, of which there are many. But conspicuous in the list are two digestive cancers that are both deadly, not uncommon and increasing…
Woman or man? Is precision medicine overlooking key biological differences?
“Something that hit me pretty early during my residency as an oncologist was that sex in most cases is a clear-cut binary, pretty obvious biological variable affecting attitudes as well as tolerance to cancer treatment that we still rarely ‒…
From sea bed to bedside: Tapping the cancer pharmacy beneath the waves
Around 80% of life on our planet is found in ecosystems located within the almost 300 million cubic miles of ocean that cover the earth. Among its many wonders, the ocean is a treasure trove for medical sciences, providing knowledge…
Does the ketogenic diet have a role in treating cancer?
The high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet known as the ketogenic diet has become an established treatment for intractable epilepsy over the last decade, but it has also gained widespread popular attention as a regimen for weight loss. Attention has now moved to…
Innovations in supportive care: cancer treatment side effects
The association between cancer treatments and dramatic side effects such as uncontrolled nausea and vomiting retains a powerful hold over public perceptions and parts of the media. Recent decades have seen a big improvement in many of these, partly due…
Prostate cancer: new leads for deterring progression
Future prospects for tackling aggressive prostate cancer emerged from two presentations at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual meeting, held virtually in mid-April. One identified how the risk of prostate cancer progressing to lethal disease might be mitigated by…
Can gene therapy be made to work against solid tumours?
Gene therapy to treat cancer has been on the research agenda for three decades, with the first examples having been developed in the 1990s, according to Hrvoje Miletic, Senior Consultant in Neuropathology at the Bergen/Haukeland University Hospital in Norway. “But…