Articles
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…
A blood test for early detection of any cancer: What’s the ideal? Are we getting there?
Earlier cancer diagnosis could make a huge difference to cancer survival rates – only two in ten of those diagnosed after their cancer has metastasised survive, compared with nine in ten diagnosed when the disease is still localised. In 2020…
Food insecurity: Why screening for access to nutrition should be part of cancer treatment everywhere
Sixteen-year-old Sahil Bacchav had just finished his tenth grade exams when he developed terrible headaches and a feeling that his nose was blocked. He was referred to King Edward Memorial Hospital, a municipal hospital in Mumbai, where he had his…
Cancer care in Ukraine, one year on
I make two appointments to speak to Anna Uzlova of Inspiration Family, a Kyiv-based foundation set up in September 2020 to support adult cancer patients. The first time the interview cannot take place because Uzlova is going to visit family…
The cancer patients still struggling to access drugs in the wake of anti-corruption reforms
Miriam Espinoza, a food vendor from Michoacán, Mexico, still remembers the day she received her cancer diagnosis in 2019. After months of waiting for a CT scan and several visits to gynaecologists, who told her that the lump in her…
Immunotherapy: outcomes of ultra low-dose trial offer hope for better global access
Doctors at the Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai have shown that an ultra-low dose of the immunotherapy drug nivolumab significantly improves survival in patients with recurrent or newly diagnosed head and neck cancers. The findings of the single-centre phase III…
Cervical cancer elimination efforts boosted by simpler ways to identify and treat pre-cancerous lesions
Project sites in seven low-income countries have reached the 90% targets set by the World Health Organization (WHO) for treating women identified with pre-cancerous lesions. This success was achieved using a model of cervical cancer elimination developed for use in…
What do you say when your patient can’t stop worrying about recurrence? Here’s what you told us
It isn’t over when treatment’s over. Even if, as far as the clinician is concerned, therapy has been successful and the cancer is effectively ‘cured’, cancer patients often experience a nagging – sometimes devastating – fear that their cancer will…
HPV vaccination set to be rolled out across Turkey… with controversial exclusions
Turkey’s minister of health announced on 24th November that the government is planning to start an HPV vaccine rollout. “We will start vaccination with a designated group and gradually expand its scope,” said health minister Fahrettin Koca in a speech at…
Black in Cancer holds inaugural conference in London
A new organisation set up to amplify Black voices and contributions to oncology is making its mark, two years since its foundation. An inaugural London conference in October, supported by Cancer Research UK, included presentations by Black researchers, career talks…