Posts by author
Janet Fricker
Personalised neoantigen vaccine for kidney cancer shows promise in phase 1 study
Personalised neoantigen cancer vaccines (both with and without ipilimumab) elicited anticancer immune responses in nine patients with fully resected clear cell renal cell carcinoma. The investigator-initiated phase 1 trial, published in Nature, February 5 2025, observed no recurrences at a…
What Caught Our Eye in April: Oncology’s Top Moments
April 2025 marked a significant month in oncology, with notable advancements in cancer treatment and research. Here’s a summary of the most compelling studies and recent breakthroughs that caught our eye this month. Popular CT scans could account for 5%…
It’s no longer taboo to suggest that some metastatic breast cancers may be curable
It’s long been clear that, in most patients with metastatic HER-positive breast cancer, adding effective HER2 blockade to cytotoxics can result in very prolonged responses. Janet Fricker reports on the prospective trials building evidence on whether – and in whom…
What Caught Our Eye in March: Oncology’s Top Moments
March saw the publication of several important studies in oncology, shedding new light on cancer treatment and care. Here’s a roundup of the key studies on recent discoveries and breakthroughs that grabbed our attention this month. Small device, big impact:…
Ovarian cancer: mechanism conferring resistance to immunotherapy revealed
The presence of flagella, the propellers bacteria use to move, explains why immune checkpoint inhibitors do not work in patients with ovarian cancer. The study, published in Cancer Immunology Research, 11 February, suggests that immune cell recognition of bacterial flagella,…
Muscular strength and cardiorespiratory fitness improve survival in cancer patients
Muscular strength and cardiorespiratory fitness are linked to a significantly lower risk of death from any cause and cancer-specific mortality in patients diagnosed with cancer. The meta-analysis, published online in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, 21st January, found a…
Low-dose aspirin reduces colorectal cancer recurrence in patients with PI3K alterations
Taking adjuvant low-dose aspirin daily for three years reduced recurrence of colorectal cancer by 55% in patients with somatic alterations in PI3K signalling compared to those taking placebo. The results of the ALASCCA study, presented at the 2025 ASCO Gastrointestinal…
MRI technique can identify pre-malignant pancreatic lesions
Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), a form of MRI, is capable of detecting pre-malignant lesions in both mouse and human pancreatic specimens. The ‘proof of concept’ study, published in Investigative Radiology, 13 December 2024, opens the way to use DTI for…
Key link identified in mechanism promoting lung metastases from breast cancer
The amino acid aspartate has been found to function as an extracellular signalling molecule to promote lung metastases in breast cancer. The study, published in Nature, 1 January, which was undertaken in mice and postmortem human tissue, showed evidence for…
Second-generation BTK inhibitor shows promise as fixed-duration therapy in CLL
Treatment with the second-generation Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor acalabrutinib plus the BCL2 inhibitor venetoclax (with or without the CD20 inhibitor obinutuzumab), delivered as fixed-duration therapies, significantly improved progression free survival in comparison with standard-of-care chemotherapy in previously untreated patients…