cancer

A link between highly processed foods and cancer has been suggested by French researchers. They classified foods including cakes, chicken nuggets and mass-produced bread as "ultra-processed". A study of 105,000 people hinted the more of such foods people ate, the greater their risk of cancer...

Scientists have taken a step towards one of the biggest goals in medicine - a universal blood test for cancer. A team at Johns Hopkins University has trialled a method that detects eight common forms of the disease. Their vision is an annual test designed to catch cancer early and save lives...

A new generation cancer drug has raised hopes for those living with HIV after it was found to reduce the reservoir of dormant HIV cells in the body and boost the immune response of a patient. Doctors say the effect the cancer drug nivolumab appeared to have on the patient offers a tantalising...

A hospital failed to spot cases of lung cancer because it did not check patients' chest X-rays properly, the Care Quality Commission has found. The health watchdog found that three patients at Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth suffered "significant harm". It emerged that junior doctors...

Thousands of people in England who have the most advanced cancers are surviving for several years after diagnosis, according to new research. Macmillan Cancer Support said it was down to new treatments but warned that living longer with advanced cancer can bring its own difficulties. Emma...

Bacteria living in the murky depths of the digestive system seem to influence whether tumours shrink during cancer therapy, say French and US researchers. They tested the microbiome - the collection of microscopic species that live in us - in cancer patients. Two studies, in the journal...

British scientists have worked out how many changes it takes to transform a healthy cell into a cancer. The team, at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, showed the answer was a tiny handful, between one and 10 mutations depending on the type of tumour. It has been one of the most hotly...

A life-extending lung cancer drug will be made immediately available to NHS patients in England, say advisers. Campaigners, including the late Sunday Times restaurant critic AA Gill, have repeatedly called for access to the pioneering immunotherapy, which can add months to life. Scotland...

A handheld device can identify cancerous tissue in 10 seconds, according to scientists at the University of Texas. They say it could make surgery to remove a tumour quicker, safer and more precise. And they hope it would avoid the "heartbreak" of leaving any of the cancer behind. Tests...

The US has approved the first treatment to redesign a patient's own immune system so it attacks cancer. The regulator - the US Food and Drug Administration - said its decision was a "historic" moment and medicine was now "entering a new frontier". The company Novartis is charging $475,000...

Researchers are developing tests that could make cancer detection so painless that it becomes part of routine check-ups, experts said, as new developments in such “liquid biopsy” technology were presented at the world’s largest cancer conference in Chicago this weekend. Collecting tumor tissue...

The European Commission has launched an investigation into claims that drug company Aspen Pharma excessively increased prices of five life-saving cancer medicines. The drugs include chlorambucil and busulfan - used to treat leukaemia. The Commission said it was looking at claims that Aspen...

The Cancer Drugs Fund in England was a "huge waste of money" and may have caused patients to suffer unnecessarily from the side effects of the drugs, according to UK researchers. The fund ran from 2010 to 2016, costing £1.27bn, following an election promise made by the Conservatives to pay for...

Doctors have spotted cancer coming back up to a year before normal scans in an "exciting" discovery. The UK team was able to scour the blood for signs of cancer while it was just a tiny cluster of cells invisible to X-ray or CT scans. It should allow doctors to hit the tumour earlier and...

One in three (32%) referrals made by GPs through the two-week wait cancer pathway were downgraded as less urgent over the last year, according to responses from 264 salaried and partner GPs to a GPonline poll. A total of 27% had had a referral bounced back or refused over the last 12 months...

A breast surgeon carried out "completely unnecessary" operations after inventing or exaggerating cancer risks, a court has heard. Ian Paterson, 59, of Altrincham, denies 20 counts of wounding with intent against nine women and one man. Prosecutor Julian Christopher QC said the patients...

Cell "stickiness" could indicate the likelihood that cancer will spread to other parts of the body. University of California researchers found tumour cells that stuck less to surrounding cells are more likely to migrate and invade other tissue. They hope it could one day help identify cancer...

There has been a big leap in the number of cancer patients turning to crowdfunding to pay for treatments not available on the NHS, figures seen by BBC Radio 5 live suggest. Data from JustGiving shows that 2,348 appeals were set up by cancer patients or their loved ones in 2016, a seven-fold...

UK prices for generic cancer drugs have risen sharply in the past five years, restricting their use in treating NHS patients, research from the European Cancer Congress has found. Drugs such as tamoxifen and bulsufan are now 10 times more expensive despite no longer being under patent. The...

In the last three years, researchers have shown that diabetic patients with head and neck cancer, may have better outcomes than non-diabetic patients when they are taking the drug metformin for their diabetes. In order to examine this relationship further and understand how metformin changes the...