Oncology News Today

05/02/2026

📰 NEWS: New lower-dose radiotherapy trial opens at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust

Researchers are looking at whether two de-escalated (lower doses) of targeted radiotherapy are as effective as two regular doses at treating men with intermediate-risk prostate cancer.

Read more: https://oncologynewstoday.co.uk/new-lower-dose-radiotherapy-trial-opens-at-the-christie/

Pictured: The first MR-Linac patient at The Christie standing next to the MR-Linac machine with Professor Ananya Choudhury.

The Christie Charity

A new radiotherapy trial has opened at The Christie.

05/02/2026

📰 NEWS: The Royal Marsden NHS delivers online adaptive radiotherapy (oART) on Elekta linear accelerator in UK first

The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust has achieved a UK first by delivering online adaptive radiotherapy (oART) on an Elekta linear accelerator (linac) using RaySearch’s advanced adaptive tools.

This type of radiotherapy allows for highly precise, targeted treatment. It can help to minimise damage to surrounding healthy tissue, and therefore reduce patient side effects.

Read more:

The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust has achieved a UK first by delivering online adaptive radiotherapy (oART) on an Elekta linear accelerator (linac) using RaySearch’s advanced adaptive tools.

04/02/2026

📰 NEWS: New tool helps doctors treat cancer patients after heart attack

Cancer patients who suffer a heart attack face increased risks because of their weakened cardiovascular system. This means they are more likely to die, bleed or experience another serious cardiovascular event.

Until now, doctors had no standard tool to guide treatment in this vulnerable group, but now an international team of researchers, led by the University of Leicester, has developed the first risk prediction model designed specifically for cancer patients who have a heart attack.

Read more: https://oncologynewstoday.co.uk/new-ai-tool-helps-doctors-treat-cancer-patients-after-heart-attack/

Pictured: Dr Florian A. Wenzl, a University of Leicester Honorary fellow and first author on the paper

University researchers have pioneered a new tool to determine the risk of secondary heart attacks in cancer patients using artificial intelligence.

04/02/2026

Today on World Cancer Day, we'd like to thank all the UK healthcare professionals and researchers working tirelessly to improve the lives of people living with cancer. We're proud to work with you and support you.

Change is possible when we act together 🙌

World Cancer Day

03/02/2026

📰 NEWS: Change to screening test helps prevent thousands more bowel cancers

A major change to the bowel cancer screening test is helping to prevent bowel cancer cases in the Black Country with early results showing an increase in people taking up the checks.

The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust has been at the forefront of piloting a new, more sensitive bowel cancer screening approach known as FIT@80.

The service went live in April 2024 and, since its introduction, the team has seen a 35 per cent increase in the number of people accessing it.

Read more: https://oncologynewstoday.co.uk/change-to-screening-test-helps-prevent-thousands-more-bowel-cancers-2/

NHS

A major change to the bowel cancer screening test is helping to prevent bowel cancer cases in the Black Country with early results showing an increase in people taking up the checks.

02/02/2026

📰 NEWS: Dundee to host UK-first immunotherapy trial for patients

Read more here: https://oncologynewstoday.co.uk/dundee-to-host-uk-first-immunotherapy-trial-for-cancer-patients/

Pictured: Russell Petty, Chair of Oncology at the University of Dundee and Chief Investigator for the UK arm of the trial

The University of Dundee will host the first UK trial of a new way of delivering an immunotherapy treatment, potentially improving access for cancer patients while saving the NHS millions of pounds each year.

30/01/2026

📰 NEWS: Deadline approaching to help shape the future of childhood cancer treatment

Researchers interested in working with C-Further Children’s Cancer Therapeutics Consortium to discover and develop transformative therapeutics in cancers affecting children and young people must submit their expressions of interest in March.

C-Further is an international paediatric cancer therapeutics consortium providing funding, expertise, and access to cutting-edge facilities to help researchers advance discoveries into therapies that makes a real difference for children and young people with cancer.

The deadline for expressions of interest for its next round of review is 11.59pm on Friday March 13, 2026.

Read more here: http://oncologynewstoday.co.uk/deadline-approaching-to-help-shape-the-future-of-childhood-cancer-treatment/

Cancer Research UK

28/01/2026

📰 NEWS: Leading cancer charities Breast Cancer Now and Prostate Cancer Research have joined forces to fund six groundbreaking new research projects to tackle the spread of breast and prostate cancer to the bones.

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Leading cancer charities Breast Cancer Now and Prostate Cancer Research have joined forces to fund six groundbreaking new research projects to tackle the spread of breast and prostate cancer to the bones, offering hope for changing lives and transforming patient outcomes.

27/01/2026

📰 NEWS: Patients facing suspected lung cancer could get answers sooner under a new NHS pilot using artificial intelligence and robotic technology to help doctors reach hard-to-detect cancers earlier, with fewer invasive tests.

The new approach uses AI software to rapidly analyse lung scans and flag small lumps that are most likely to be cancerous, and a robotic camera is then used to guide biopsy tools through the airways with far greater precision than standard techniques.

🔗 Read more here: https://oncologynewstoday.co.uk/nhs-launches-trailblazing-ai-and-robot-pilot-to-spot-lung-cancer-sooner-alongside-screening-programme-set-to-tackle-cancer-inequalities/

Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust

Patients facing suspected lung cancer could get answers sooner under a new NHS pilot using artificial intelligence and robotic technology to help doctors reach hard-to-detect cancers earlier, with fewer invasive tests.

26/01/2026

📰 NEWS: A blood test can predict how well patients with advanced breast cancer will respond to targeted therapies – before treatment begins, according to new research.

A team from The Institute of Cancer Research, London, used a liquid biopsy to detect the presence of tiny amounts of cancer DNA in the blood – at the start of treatment, and four weeks into the treatment. They compared the levels of this DNA with patients’ outcomes – including how long it took for a cancer to grow, and how well the cancer was responding to treatment.

The findings, published in the journal Clinical Cancer Research, involved analysing blood samples from patients enrolled in the plasmaMATCH trial for circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) that is released into the bloodstream by cancer cells. The researchers, based at the Breast Cancer Now Toby Robins Research Centre at The Institute of Cancer Research, saw a strong association between low levels of ctDNA at the start of treatment, and treatment response. A similar association was seen after four weeks – one treatment cycle.

The results show that it is possible to monitor how well treatment is working through a non-invasive blood test, meaning patients who are not responding well could be identified and moved to alternative treatments sooner.

🔗 Read more here:

A blood test can predict how well patients with advanced breast cancer will respond to targeted therapies – before treatment begins, according to new research.

23/01/2026

📰 NEWS: Novel analysis shows promise for revealing early ovarian cancer signals

The University of Manchester researchers have shown that analysis of fluid flushed through a fallopian tube holds promise for providing insights into molecular changes linked to early ovarian cancer development.

The analysis – featured in the journal Clinical and translational medicine – revealed molecular signals that in one case prompted re-examination of archived fallopian tube tissue and led to the retrospective identification of a pre-invasive or very early cancerous lesion.

Read more here: https://oncologynewstoday.co.uk/novel-analysis-shows-promise-for-revealing-early-ovarian-cancer-signals/

22/01/2026

📰 NEWS: Hot flush treatment has anti-breast cancer activity, study finds

A drug mimicking the hormone progesterone has anti-cancer activity when used together with conventional anti-oestrogen treatment for women with breast cancer, a new Cambridge-led trial has found.

A low dose of megestrol acetate (a synthetic version of progesterone) has already been proven as a treatment to help patients manage hot flushes associated with anti-oestrogen breast cancer therapies, and so could help them continue taking their treatment. The PIONEER trial has now shown that the addition of low dose megestrol to such treatment may also have a direct anti-cancer effect.

Read more here: https://oncologynewstoday.co.uk/hot-flush-treatment-has-anti-breast-cancer-activity-study-finds/

Cancer Research UK Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust University of Cambridge

A drug mimicking the hormone progesterone has anti-cancer activity when used together with conventional anti-oestrogen treatment for women with breast cancer, a new Cambridge-led trial has found.