cancer

Formaldehyde is a preservative used on human tissue; inhaling it has harmful health effects and it is considered a human carcinogen. A study published in Occupational & Environmental Medicine shows that airborne concentrations of this compound in most pathological anatomy departments of the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) are rarely monitored and regularly exceed the occupational exposure limits set by the European Union (EU): seven out of 10 departments exceeded the eight-hour maximum exposure limit set by the EU.

An international team has published the five-year follow-up results of a phase 2b clinical trial testing a personalised cancer vaccine in combination with standard immunotherapy treatment for melanoma. After this period, the probability of cancer recurrence was around 50% lower in the group of patients who received the vaccine. Furthermore, the probability of metastasis was almost 60% lower. The results are being presented at the ASCO (American Society of Clinical Oncology) conference and published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Given current vaccination and cervical cancer screening campaigns, high-income countries could eliminate this disease by around 2048, according to a study published in The Lancet. However, the incidence of this cancer in low- and middle-income countries would decline by only 23% over this period if current trends continue, the article states. Elimination is defined as an incidence of fewer than four cases per 100,000 women.

A team from the Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology in Barcelona has published a study examining the impact of the exposome—changes in lifestyle and environmental factors—on early-onset colorectal cancer through epigenetic signatures. By analyzing methylation patterns in patients, they confirmed previously identified risk factors such as diet, educational level, and tobacco use. Additionally, they identified a significant association with picloram, a widely used herbicide. The results are published in Nature Medicine.

A team from Australia has conducted a review of various types of studies on e-cigarettes from 2017 to 2025. Their conclusion is that e-cigarettes containing nicotine are likely carcinogenic to humans and will cause an as-yet-undetermined number of cases of mouth and lung cancer. In a press release, the authors, who published their findings in the journal Carcinogenesis, state that “the conclusion is unequivocal, although it will take decades for human studies estimating the risk to accumulate.”

Glutathione is considered an antioxidant due to its ability to repair cellular damage. The body produces it naturally, but it is also sold as an antioxidant supplement. A study in mice and human tissue, published in Nature, shows that cancer cells can break it down and use it as fuel—particularly the cysteine it contains—promoting tumour growth and survival. “Depriving tumours of extracellular glutathione or inhibiting its breakdown is potentially a viable therapeutic strategy for cancer patients,” the authors state.

An artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm is capable of estimating a woman's risk of developing breast cancer in the next four years, according to a study published in The Lancet Digital Health. The tool identified women at high risk of developing breast cancer, and nearly one in ten of those who scored in the top 2% according to the algorithm were diagnosed within four years, despite having been discharged from hospital. The tool used mammograms from nearly 400,000 women and was then tested with data from nearly 96,000 women in Australia. The results were confirmed in a Swedish population of more than 4,500 women.

A study published in The Lancet Oncology shows that age-adjusted breast cancer mortality has declined from 1990 to 2023, even though the number of cases has increased. In Spain, the mortality rate for this disease fell by almost 42% during this period, reflecting the success of screening, diagnosis and treatment in high-income countries, according to the article's data. Although incidence and mortality rates will remain stable, the authors predict that population growth and ageing will increase the number of breast cancer cases and deaths between now and 2050.

Cancer patients receiving a type of immunotherapy known as Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor (ICI) have a higher risk of serious adverse events, such as aortic aneurysm rupture, interstitial lung disease, myositis and liver failure, according to a study published in PNAS. "Establishing formal contraindications for ICI users seems warranted," concludes the analysis, based on more than 290,000 cases from pharmacovigilance databases of the US Food and Drug Administration and the World Health Organisation.

Although CAR-T cells have been effective against certain blood cancers, they have not worked well in solid tumors due to the lack of a common target on the surface of the cells. A study published today in the journal Science has developed ultra-sensitive CAR-T cells capable of detecting even very low levels of the CD70 protein, a promising target. The researchers succeeded in eradicating kidney, ovarian, and pancreatic tumors in preclinical models.