2022 has likely been your first full year back to ‘normal’ since the pandemic, and that’s no different for cancer researchers. Back into full swing in the lab, Worldwide Cancer Research scientists have been busy making exciting new discoveries about cancer. Here are the top five cancer research breakthroughs made by our scientists in 2022.
1. Stopping the spread of breast cancer
Our scientists in Italy discovered a previously unknown way that breast cancer cells survive treatment. They found that breast cancer cells hiding in places like the lungs seem to rely on specific antioxidants to survive there. This could be a new way to wipe out breast cancer cells that have escaped treatment.
Our hope is that these findings can be translated into a real drug treatment that can kill “sleeping” cancer cells before they awake into full-blown metastases.
2. Stool samples can reveal pancreatic cancer sooner
Our researchers in Spain, led by Dr Núria Malats, have found a new way to spot if someone is at higher risk of pancreatic cancer, and even diagnose patients at an early stage of the disease. Specific microorganisms in a stool sample could signal that there is a problem in a rapid, non-invasive, and affordable way.
This new breakthrough builds on the growing evidence that the microbiome is linked to the development of cancer. Early detection and diagnosis are just as important an approach to starting new cancer cures as developing treatments.
3. Targeting cancer’s energy supply
Our scientists in Germany discovered they could prevent head and neck cancer spreading by stopping it getting the extra energy it needs to do so. If they prevented a change happening in the RNA of mitochondria (the powerhouse of the cell), the cancer didn’t spread as much.
The funding from Worldwide Cancer Research helped us to get a step closer to succeeding in fighting cancer metastasis, the leading cause of cancer death.
4. Making radiotherapy work for more patients
Our researchers in Spain made a breakthrough that could help treat people with cancer that has spread to the brain. In the future, a blood test could reveal if patients will respond to radiotherapy or if the cancer will resist it, then a drug called a RAGE inhibitor could make radiotherapy work better for those that would resist it.
We are very excited about the findings of this study and specifically the drug we have found. We really hope that what we have discovered will lead to a new way to personalise the use of radiotherapy that maximises the benefits for each patient.
5. Engineering immune cells to hunt down cancer
Our researchers in Italy have made a breakthrough that could lead to better, more effective immunotherapy options for cancer patients. They discovered how to engineer a specific type of immune cell to target and kill cancer cells, then boost its cancer-killing ability using a drug delivered with nanotechnology.
We hope we have laid the foundations for an innovative approach of adoptive cell therapy of cancer, hopefully more efficient than the current ones.
And finally, we were delighted to commit to funding £5.3 million to 25 new research projects that will start in 2023! It is incredibly important to continue supporting ground-breaking discovery cancer research if we hope to end the suffering caused by cancer.
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