New cancer advancements and breakthroughs to know about

• Cancer remains one of the world’s biggest health challenges, with millions of new cases each year creating a huge economic burden
• The development of personalized cancer vaccines, nanotechnology-based drug delivery systems, AI-powered diagnostics, and advanced synthetic biopsies is helping transform early detection and treatment response
• These advancements bring hope that cancer can be detected earlier and treated more effectively, delivering personalized interventions to patients sooner rather than later

The future of healthcare depends on continued cancer advancements to address one of the world’s most pressing health crises. Back in 2022, global figures showed that there were almost 20 million new cases and nearly 10 million deaths due to cancer.^1,2 This translates to approximately one in five people developing some form of cancer in their lifetime, with a staggering 70% of the associated deaths impacting low and middle-income countries.^1,2

While these figures may be shocking, there is some light peeking through the darkness. Cancer research is advancing rapidly, with cancer advancements and innovative cancer treatments emerging constantly.² From the development of personalized vaccines, to artificial intelligence-powered digital solutions, cancer care advancements are bringing new weapons to the fight against cancer by providing healthcare personnel with innovative ways to detect, treat, and manage this complex disease. 

Here are some of the most recent and exciting cancer care advancements, with discussion on how these innovative cancer treatments will impact the healthcare industry moving forward.

First things first, it’s vital to assess the current landscape of cancer and understand why this disease has been so problematic for so many decades. 

To begin with cancer isn’t one singular disease — it represents a group of diseases characterized by the uncontrolled growth and spread of abnormal cells, which can then invade nearby tissues and, left untreated, potentially spread to other parts of the body.³

This ability to metastasize is what makes cancer so deadly and challenging to treat.³ However, every type of cancer — and often each tumor — can also behave differently, respond in different ways to treatments, and carry its own unique set of genetic mutations. This characteristic makes it incredibly difficult to develop one-size-fits-all therapies, which is why cancer continues to pose such a unique challenge within healthcare.³

There’s also the added drawback of accessibility to consider. In wealthier countries, people have better access to screening and innovative cancer treatments, which is why survival rates tend to be higher.⁴ But in many poorer parts of the world, these statistics tend to be much worse due to late diagnoses and a lack of available treatments.⁴

Globally, this creates a huge economic burden, with the estimated cost of cancer likely to be $25.2 trillion USD between 2020 and 2050.⁵ But there is hope on the horizon. With research advancing at a rapid rate, and new therapies, tests, and technologies constantly being developed, new cancer breakthroughs are helping us to prevent or manage cancer cases more easily — and successfully — than ever before.²

Many innovations have occurred across multiple fronts within the field of oncology over recent years.² From the integration of AI and machine learning to advances in companion diagnostics in cancer care, research is taking a multi-pronged approach to cancer care, resulting in several significant contributions.

One area of excitement is the growth of personalized cancer vaccines. These use the genetic information from a patient’s tumor to create a vaccine that primes the immune system against that specific cancer.⁶ This concept, similar to the one used when creating the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, helps stimulate the body’s ability to recognize and kill cancer cells, while sparing healthy tissue at the same time.⁶

Early studies using this approach are showing considerable potential. The Phase 2b KEYNOTE-942 melanoma study, for instance, showed that combining an mRNA vaccine with the immunotherapy pembrolizumab led to a 49% reduction in recurrence or death compared to using pembrolizumab alone.⁷

Many countries are already trialing the use of personalized cancer vaccines. In the UK, the Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad has recently started enrolling hundreds of cancer patients, tailoring treatments to each individual’s tumor profile and helping increase access to relevant clinical trials.⁸ This area of cancer advancement is worth keeping an eye on over the coming years.

Cancer researchers are currently using nanotechnology to enhance the delivery of drugs to tumor sites.⁹

By harnessing nanoparticles, researchers can deliver chemotherapy or immunotherapy drugs directly to cancer cells, thereby improving accuracy and reducing the harm caused to surrounding healthy tissues.⁹

For example, some researchers are using nanotechnology to create hybrid nanoparticles that can carry higher quantities of chemotherapy drugs directly to tumors.^9,10 In one study that focused on the chemotherapy drug doxorubicin, these new particles were shown to not only hold 29% more of the drug than current treatments, but also reduce the number of side effects experienced by patients.¹⁰

Some nanotechnology research is even exploring the possibility of making this delivery more precise, using magnets or sound waves to help guide the treatment directly to the tumor site.¹¹

Early detection is key when it comes to cancer, and recent diagnostic advances are now making it easier to catch cases earlier on. 

For instance, researchers have now engineered a blood-based test that can detect 18 different cancers at an early stage.² By analyzing specific proteins in the blood, these tests could correctly identify 93% of stage 1 cancers in men and 84% in women.² While there’s still some way to go, they’re already showing significant promise.

Combining these blood tests with AI technology also holds much potential. One example of this, known as ARTEMIS-DELFI, uses machine learning to study mutations and detect subtle patterns in millions of cell-free DNA fragments that circulate in the blood.¹²

While on the topic of machine learning and AI, scientists are already integrating these technologies into numerous oncological processes, including tumor profiling, biopsies, and diagnostics.² Thanks to their ability to analyze complex data at much faster rates than humans, these technologies can help identify cancers much earlier and produce predictive models for healthcare personnel to utilize in clinical practice.²

The use of AI is also critical where specialist expertise is limited or large volumes of data need to be reviewed quickly. Some AI-based tools have already been integrated to analyze mammograms or CT scans, looking for signs of lung cancer earlier than traditional methods, and helping to catch the disease when it’s at a more treatable stage.²

For example, the AI model Sybil by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology can predict an individual’s lung cancer risk up to six years before diagnosis.¹³ This enables clinicians to monitor disease development proactively and implement personalized interventions to slow progression.

Traditional tissue biopsies are often invasive and painful, leaving patients feeling anxious and uncomfortable about having them. Fortunately, emerging innovations may help reduce these burdens. 

Researchers can now use liquid biopsies to analyze the blood for cancer-derived material, such as circulating tumor DNA. In a study conducted by Stanford Medicine, cancer researchers developed a blood test that could detect lung cancer RNA in 73% of patients.¹⁴ It also identified potential signs of tumor resistance to therapy that traditional DNA-based tests might miss.¹⁴

Taking things one step further, synthetic biopsies are another exciting area of cancer research. This approach involves the injection of engineered molecules that only activate within cancer cells, allowing researchers to detect the tumor more easily.¹⁵

While this innovative cancer treatment is still in its infancy, experts suggest that synthetic biopsies could one day enable clinicians to identify small tumors that traditional approaches might miss, making it easier to detect cancer earlier and monitor treatment responses.¹⁵

As these recent cancer advancements demonstrate, cancer research is advancing at an unprecedented rate. Together, these innovations are helping healthcare personnel shift from treating late-stage disease to catching and controlling cancer earlier and more precisely.²

While cancer remains a considerable challenge to overcome, the pace of these recent developments offers a lot of hope and, with continued investment, many of these breakthroughs could become standard care within a few years. For now, it’s very much a case of watching to see what’s next.