The Most Mind-Blowing Cancer Research Progress of the Last Year

Cancer research is accelerating quickly and more effective and efficient treatments are becoming available to the general public. With new treatments and technology, there is always a risk. However, for some patients, these new technologies and treatments can be the things that extend or save their lives. It's important to stay up to date on cancer research because cancer can develop in anyone, even seemingly "healthy" people. Knowing what your options are can help you and your loved ones explore treatments in case they become pertinent. Let's examine 2024's most amazing advancements in cancer research.

To populate this list, we looked at the News section of reputable, scientific organizations that focus on cancer research, such as the National Cancer Institute (NCI.) Then, we selected the most poignant and relevant research bits from their publications.

A new breakthrough in personalized immunotherapy has shown promise in some patients with metastatic solid tumors. Personalized immunotherapy focuses on genetically engineering cells designed to target and kill the specific cancer cells present in someone's body. Cancer cells are unique to the person with cancer since their introduction to the body is a result of individual genetic changes to certain cells in the body. No two people have exactly the same cancer cells, which complicates treatment options since we can't create catch-all medications that actively target unique cells.

Personalized immunotherapy solves that problem to some extent with genetically engineered white blood cells with the ability to identify, find, and target the cancer cells in the patient's body. The treatment is still undergoing trials to determine its efficacy and safety, but a small clinical trial has shown that this treatment is effective for some people with metastatic solid tumors. Not only did patients with metastatic tumors experience tumor shrinkage from the therapy, but the tumor was also prevented from regrowing for up to 7 months following the treatment.

Treating cancer that has come back has always been difficult as, in some cases, the cancer cells can build up an immunity to cancer treatments when they return. In other cases, the cancer cells were resistant to treatment to begin with and responses to treatment were marginal or lower than the level necessary to achieve successful remission. However, a new five-drug combination treatment that is being trialed by researchers from the National Institutes of Health has shown promise in treating resistant aggressive cases of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

The new treatment uses a combination of medications—venetoclax, ibrutinib, prednisone, obinutuzumab, and lenalidomide—to target the pathways that the tumors use to survive. The drug cocktail is known as "ViPOR." The clinical trials so far have been small with the most recent trial including 50 patients. However, the results of the study, which was quite extensive in length, were quite promising. 54% of the evaluable patients experienced tumor shrinkage and 38% had their tumors disappear entirely. After two years, 36% of all of the patients were still alive and 34% were free of cancer. This might seem like a low survival rate, but most of the patients in the study were slated to have passed within a year without the treatment.

A group of scientists from the National Cancer Institute's Center for Cancer Research and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York have completed a proof-of-concept study that created a machine-learning model that analyzes routine clinical data, like a standard blood test, to check for biomarkers that indicate that patient might be a good candidate for immunotherapy.

Right now, there are only two biomarkers that the FDA has approved for assessing a patient's candidacy for immune checkpoint therapy. However, the data for these biomarkers is both expensive and not routinely collected, making the process difficult or impossible for patients to receive. The new machine learning model from this proof-of-concept study uses five clinical features routinely collected from patients to determine their candidacy for immune checkpoint therapy. The five data samples used are age, cancer type, history of systemic therapy, blood albumin levels, and blood neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio. The model also takes into account the patient's tumor mutational burden, one of the biomarkers approved by the FDA, but isn't reliant solely on the data, making it more accessible.

Unfortunately, developing cancer at any time is a strong predictor of a second bout later in life. For children who survive cancer, this can mean that their lives are spent doing what they can to mitigate the chances that they develop a second, new cancer in adulthood as well as trying to keep their original cancer in remission. There are many common inherited genetic factors that doctors can assess to determine someone's risk of developing cancer. However, new evidence shows that these factors may also predict subsequent cancers in childhood cancer survivors.

Studies done using genome-wide association (GWAS) have shown that individuals with higher scores known as polygenic risk scores have a higher chance of developing cancer. However, until recently there was no evidence that a higher polygenic risk score contributed to the development of a subsequent cancer in a survivor. The new study done on childhood cancer survivors followed them through life after surviving cancer and found a correlation between the development of a second cancer type and a higher polygenic risk score in childhood cancer survivors.

New medications are going through the development and approval processes every day, especially in fields like cancer research, where effective treatments are often detrimental to the patient. The fight to develop an effective cancer treatment that doesn't come with the host of negative side effects associated with chemotherapy and radiation treatments has been going on for decades with less advancement than the general public would like to see. However, the complexity of the cases makes it difficult to treat cancer effectively. As we mentioned above, since cancer comes from continuous genetic mutation in the body's cells, each case is unique and the genetic mutations continue to occur as the cancer progresses, further increasing case complexity.

The American Association of Cancer Research (AARC) discussed 12 new drugs that are on the horizon for treating different types of cancer soon. The drugs varied in treatment possibilities, methods, and types of cancer they treated. However, the new drugs would provide more options for treatment for patients, especially those who have exhausted current treatments without satisfactory results.

Along with new drug options coming, the AARC also held several panels discussing new advancements in targeted therapy for cancer patients. The four treatments discussed were for two types of breast cancer, colorectal cancer, and treatment of advanced solid tumors. These new treatments could offer pathways to remissions for patients new and returning.

One of the advancements discussed was in treating KRAS-mutated colorectal cancer, for which science has found an association with a significant risk of poor prognosis and outcome. The new targeted treatment discussed hopes to improve the outcomes of people diagnosed with KRAS mutations in colorectal cancer, which only occur in 3–4% of cases.

Other advancements included two improvements in treating breast cancer, BCRA-mutated and triple-negative types, respectively. In one study, all participants were still alive after three years, which, unfortunately, isn't always the case with cancer treatment studies. The other study also showed some improvements in the outcomes of patients treated with the experimental treatment.

The final study tested the efficacy and safety of using a potent polymerase (PARP) inhibitor on patients with solid tumors and showed promising results in improving outcomes for these cases. Findings indicated good responses from patients who took 60 milligrams of the PARP inhibitor, Saruparib, daily.