cancer

The p53 gene, known as the ‘guardian of the genome’, is a tumor suppressor gene that is mutated in more than half of all solid tumors in humans, affecting the function of the protein it encodes. However, there are no approved treatments capable of reactivating its function. A US team has tested a new drug in a phase 1 clinical trial that is capable of performing this function against a specific mutation, present in approximately 1% of solid tumors. After being administered to 77 people with different types of advanced or metastatic tumors, 20% showed a full or partial response, and the most common adverse effects were nausea or vomiting, according to a report published in NEJM.  

Counties in the United States closest to operating nuclear power plants have higher cancer mortality rates than those further away, according to a new study led by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, published in Nature Communications. Using data from 2000 to 2018, they assessed spatial patterns of cancer mortality in relation to proximity to nuclear facilities, taking into account socioeconomic, environmental, and health factors. Cancer mortality was higher in both men and women, with the strongest associations among men aged 65 to 74 and women aged 55 to 64. The findings do not imply causality.

Although cancer is a common cause of death in domestic cats, little is known about the range of genes affected and how they compare with the oncogenome in humans. A study published in Science sequenced cancer-related genes in 493 samples from 13 different types of feline cancer to obtain a clearer picture of the feline oncogenome. The genes were also compared with known cancer-associated mutations in humans.

A team in China has studied the ability of a test to detect the human papillomavirus (HPV)—responsible for the vast majority of cervical cancers—in menstrual blood from more than 3,000 women. The results indicate that the test is comparable to current screening performed in medical offices. According to the researchers, “Using menstrual blood for HPV testing is practical and non-invasive, allowing women to collect samples at home and thus potentially offering a practical way to expand access to screening.” The study is published in The BMJ. 

In 2022, approximately four out of every 10 new cancer cases worldwide were due to modifiable risk factors, primarily tobacco or alcohol consumption and infections, including those caused by the human papillomavirus or H. pylori bacteria. These are some of the conclusions of a global study led by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and its International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), published in Nature Medicine. In Spain, 41.8% of cancer cases in men are attributed to modifiable external factors, compared to 26.1% in women, with smoking remaining the main factor (28.5% and 9.9%, respectively). The analysis is based on data from 185 countries.

A phase 3 clinical trial conducted in China tested 210 patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer—the most common type—to see whether the time of day when immunotherapy and chemotherapy were administered influenced their effectiveness. The data indicate that, on average, those who received therapy after 3 p.m. did not see their cancer worsen for 5.4 months. In contrast, those who received it before that time did not see their cancer worsen for an average of 11.7 months, almost twice as long. Overall, response rates were 56.2% and 69.5%, respectively. The results, published in Nature Medicine, suggest that scheduling therapy early in the day may offer a simple and cost-free way to improve treatment efficacy.

Between April 2021 and December 2022, more than 100,000 women in Sweden were randomly assigned to either AI-assisted mammography screening or double reading, where two radiologists review each mammogram without the aid of AI. AI-assisted screening identified more women with significant cancers without a higher rate of false positives and also achieved a 12% reduction in the rate of interval cancers—those that appear between mammograms because they went unnoticed or are newly developed and more aggressive—compared to the double reading procedure. This is the first clinical trial of its kind, and its results are published in The Lancet.

Several recent studies had concluded that the risk of gastric cancer doubled with the use of drugs such as omeprazole – proton pump inhibitors. A new study published in The BMJ states that there is no association between prolonged use of these drugs and the risk of gastric adenocarcinoma. The research used prospective data from registries in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden between 1994 and 2020. The study included more than 17,000 patients with gastric adenocarcinoma (other than cardia cancer) who had been exposed to these drugs for more than one year.

A higher body mass index (BMI) correlates—regardless of age at menarche—with a lower risk of breast cancer, according to a meta-analysis based on genetic data from more than 56,000 women. The study, published in Science Advances, seeks to clarify previous seemingly contradictory findings: more body fat (measured by BMI) before puberty could have a protective effect against breast cancer; however, a higher BMI is also linked to earlier menarche, which is associated with an increased risk of developing this disease. The authors indicate that the prepubertal stage is a ‘critical window’ in which adiposity has the greatest influence on future breast cancer risk.

People with colour vision deficiency and bladder cancer have lower survival rates than patients with the same cancer who have not been diagnosed with this visual condition, according to an analysis of medical records between 2004 and 2025 comparing a group of 135 people with both diagnoses and another group of 135 with bladder cancer without visual impairment. In a study published in Nature Health, the authors suggest that this difference could be due to these patients not detecting the presence of blood in their urine, which delays the seeking of medical care and cancer diagnosis.