Cancer News

January 12, 2026

Top Headlines

Injection Turns Sleeping Tumor Immune Cells Into Cancer Fighters

Jan. 11, 2026 KAIST researchers have developed a way to reprogram immune cells already inside tumors into cancer-killing machines. A drug injected directly into the tumor is absorbed by macrophages, prompting them to recognize and attack cancer cells while ...

A Hidden Loop Is Powering Deadly Pancreatic Cancer

Jan. 10, 2026 Pancreatic cancer is notoriously hard to treat, often resisting therapies that target its most common mutations. Researchers have now uncovered a hidden three-part loop that fuels tumor growth, involving the cancer drivers SRSF1, AURKA, and MYC. By ...

Long COVID May Be Fueled by Inflammation and Tiny Clots

Jan. 8, 2026 Long COVID affects an estimated 65 million people worldwide and can damage the brain, heart, blood vessels, and immune system long after infection. Researchers now link symptoms to lingering virus, inflammation, micro-clots, and disrupted energy ...

A Global Cancer Surge Is Underway and the World Is Not Ready

Jan. 7, 2026 Global cancer cases have surged dramatically, doubling since 1990 and reaching 18.5 million new diagnoses in 2023. Deaths have also climbed to over 10 million a year, with the steepest increases hitting low- and middle-income countries. Without ...

Scientists Find a Safer Way for Opioids to Relieve Pain

Jan. 6, 2026 Researchers at USF Health have discovered a new way opioid receptors can work that may lead to safer pain medications. Their findings show that certain experimental compounds can amplify pain relief without intensifying dangerous side effects like ...

A Simple Drug Pair May Succeed Where Liver Fibrosis Treatments Failed

Jan. 6, 2026 Scientists have found that combining silybin with carvedilol works far better against liver fibrosis than either drug alone. The duo targets the root drivers of liver scarring, sharply reducing collagen buildup and liver damage in experimental ...

Scientists Uncover a Hidden Switch That Helps Cancer Cells Thrive

Jan. 5, 2026 A protein once thought to simply help cancer cells avoid death turns out to do much more. MCL1 actively drives cancer metabolism by controlling the powerful mTOR growth pathway, tying survival and energy use together. This insight explains why ...

A Smarter Way to Screen for Breast Cancer Is Emerging

Jan. 4, 2026 A groundbreaking study shows that breast cancer screening works better when it’s personalized. Instead of annual mammograms for all, women were screened based on genetics, health history, and lifestyle factors. This approach reduced advanced ...

Diabetes Drugs May Be Changing Cancer in Surprising Ways

Jan. 2, 2026 Common diabetes drugs may do more than regulate blood sugar—they could also influence how cancers grow, spread, or slow down. Researchers are now unraveling how these medications affect immune function, inflammation, and tumor biology, with ...

MIT Study Shows High-fat Diets Give Liver Cancer a Dangerous Head Start

Dec. 31, 2025 A high-fat diet does more than overload the liver with fat. New research from MIT shows that prolonged exposure to fatty foods can push liver cells into a survival mode that quietly raises the risk of cancer. Faced with ongoing metabolic stress, ...

Where You Live May Be Fueling Aggressive Breast Cancer

Dec. 30, 2025 New research shows that women living near Superfund sites are more likely to develop aggressive and metastatic breast cancers. The studies found higher risks for hard-to-treat subtypes like triple-negative breast cancer, especially in areas with ...

Stanford Scientists Uncover Why MRNA COVID Vaccines Can Trigger Heart Inflammation

Dec. 27, 2025 Stanford scientists have uncovered how mRNA COVID-19 vaccines can very rarely trigger heart inflammation in young men — and how that risk might be reduced. They found that the vaccines can spark a ...

Latest Headlines

updated 9:40am EST

Cancer Cells Depend on a Dangerous DNA Repair Trick

Dec. 27, 2025 Researchers have discovered how cells activate a last-resort DNA repair system when severe damage strikes. When genetic tangles overwhelm normal repair pathways, cells flip on a fast but error-prone ...

Eating More Vitamin C Can Physically Change Your Skin

Dec. 26, 2025 Vitamin C doesn’t just belong in skincare products—it works even better when you eat it. Scientists discovered that vitamin C from food travels through the bloodstream into every layer of the ...

MIT Scientists Strip Cancer of Its Sugar Shield

Dec. 23, 2025 Scientists at MIT and Stanford have unveiled a promising new way to help the immune system recognize and attack cancer cells more effectively. Their strategy targets a hidden “off switch” that ...

This Ultra-Sensitive Imaging System Can Spot Cancer Earlier

Dec. 23, 2025 A new imaging technology can distinguish cancerous tissue from healthy cells by detecting ultra-weak light signals. It relies on nanoparticles that bind to tumor markers, making cancerous areas ...

This Cancer-Fighting Molecule Took 50 Years to Build

Dec. 22, 2025 MIT scientists have achieved the first-ever lab synthesis of verticillin A, a complex fungal compound discovered in 1970. Its delicate structure stalled chemists for decades, despite differing from ...

Is a Vegan Diet Safe for Kids? A Huge Study Has Answers

Dec. 21, 2025 A major new meta-analysis finds that vegetarian and vegan diets can support healthy growth in children when properly planned. Kids on plant-based diets often had better heart health markers, ...

The Gear Meant to Protect Firefighters May Carry Hidden Dangers

Dec. 18, 2025 Firefighter turnout gear is designed to shield first responders from extreme heat and danger, but new research suggests it may also introduce chemical exposures. A U.S. study found that brominated ...

A Hidden T Cell Switch Could Make Cancer Immunotherapy Work for More People

Dec. 18, 2025 Scientists have discovered that T cell receptors activate through a hidden spring-like motion that had never been seen before. This breakthrough may help explain why immunotherapy works for some ...

AI Detects Cancer but It’s Also Reading Who You Are

Dec. 17, 2025 AI tools designed to diagnose cancer from tissue samples are quietly learning more than just disease patterns. New research shows these systems can infer patient demographics from pathology slides, ...

Colon Cancer Is Surging in Younger Adults and Doctors Are Alarmed

Dec. 16, 2025 Cases of colorectal cancer in younger adults are climbing worldwide, driven by lifestyle changes and inherited genetic risks. Diet, obesity, and lack of early screening are playing a major role in ...

Cannabis Compounds Show Unexpected Power Against Ovarian Cancer

Dec. 15, 2025 Scientists have discovered that key compounds from cannabis—CBD and THC—show surprisingly strong effects against ovarian cancer cells. Used together, they slow cell growth, reduce colony ...

Even Moderate Drinking Carries a Bigger Cancer Risk Than You Think

Dec. 11, 2025 Researchers found that both how often and how much someone drinks significantly shape their cancer risk, even at moderate levels. Vulnerability varies across groups, with genetics, socioeconomic ...

AI Finds a Surprising Monkeypox Weak Spot That Could Rewrite Vaccines

Dec. 12, 2025 Researchers used AI to pinpoint a little-known monkeypox protein that provokes strong protective antibodies. When the team tested this protein as a vaccine ingredient in mice, it produced a potent ...

Gene-Edited CAR-T Cells Erase Aggressive T-Cell Leukemia

Dec. 11, 2025 A cutting-edge therapy using base-edited immune cells is offering a major breakthrough for patients with one of the toughest forms of blood cancer, T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. By precisely ...

Scientists Capture Flu Viruses Surfing Into Human Cells in Real Time

Dec. 4, 2025 Scientists have captured a never-before-seen, high-resolution look at influenza’s stealthy invasion of human cells, revealing that the cells aren’t just helpless victims. Using a groundbreaking ...

A Routine Shingles Shot May Offer Powerful Defense Against Dementia

Dec. 3, 2025 A unique vaccine rollout in Wales gave researchers an accidental natural experiment that revealed a striking reduction in dementia among seniors who received the shingles vaccine. The protective ...

Doctors Are Seeing More Aggressive Breast Cancer in Younger Women Than Expected

Dec. 1, 2025 Younger women are being diagnosed with breast cancer more often than screening guidelines anticipate. Many of these cancers are invasive and harder to treat, especially in those under 40. After ...

Simple Thyroid Check in Pregnancy May Lower Autism Risk

Nov. 29, 2025 Researchers have found that ongoing thyroid hormone imbalance in pregnancy may be linked to higher autism risk in children. Treated thyroid disorders did not show the same effect. The longer the ...

Half of Heart Attacks Strike People Told They’re Low Risk

Nov. 27, 2025 The study reveals that widely used heart-attack risk calculators fail to flag nearly half of those who will soon experience a cardiac event. Even the newer PREVENT model misclassifies many patients ...

New Nasal Nanodrops Wipe out Brain Tumors in Mice

Nov. 22, 2025 A new nasal-delivered nanotherapy shows promise against aggressive glioblastoma tumors. By activating the STING immune pathway using gold-core spherical nucleic acids, researchers were able to reach ...

Stanford's New Cell Therapy Cures Type 1 Diabetes in Mice

Nov. 26, 2025 Researchers at Stanford found a way to cure or prevent Type 1 diabetes in mice using a combined blood stem cell and islet cell transplant. The procedure creates a hybrid immune system that stops ...

New Antibody Breakthrough Could Finally Slow Polycystic Kidney Disease

Nov. 19, 2025 A specially engineered antibody that can infiltrate kidney cysts has shown the ability to block key growth signals driving polycystic kidney disease. Early mouse studies suggest it may halt or even ...

How to Keep Ozempic/Wegovy Weight Loss Without the Nausea

Nov. 18, 2025 Scientists are uncovering how GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy act on brain regions that control hunger, nausea, pleasure-based eating, and thirst. These discoveries may help create treatments ...

Scientists Discover Hidden Switch That Helps Cancer Cells Survive

Dec. 1, 2025 Researchers have found a small but powerful switch inside breast cancer cells that helps them survive stressful conditions. When this switch flips, the cells activate protective programs that make ...

Scientists Reawaken Exhausted T Cells to Supercharge Cancer Immunity

Nov. 20, 2025 Researchers discovered a way to keep T cells from wearing out during the fight against cancer, and the approach could make immune-based treatments far more powerful. They found that tumors use a ...

CRISPR Unlocks a New Way to Defeat Resistant Lung Cancer

Nov. 17, 2025 Scientists used CRISPR to disable the NRF2 gene, restoring chemotherapy sensitivity in lung cancer cells and slowing tumor growth. The technique worked even when only a fraction of tumor cells were ...

Your Skin Has a Built-in Cancer Defense and Sunlight Turns It Off

Nov. 30, 2025 Scientists have uncovered how too much sunlight can flip a hidden switch inside skin cells that makes inflammation spiral out of control and increases the risk of cancer. Their research reveals that ...

Scientists Reveal a Hidden Hormone Switch for Learning

Nov. 21, 2025 Researchers uncovered how estrogen subtly reshapes learning by strengthening dopamine reward signals in the brain. Rats learned faster when estrogen levels were high and struggled when the ...

Wegovy and Ozempic Tied to Dramatically Lower Cancer Deaths

Nov. 12, 2025 GLP-1 drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy may extend the lives of colon cancer patients, according to a major UC San Diego study. Patients on the medications had less than half the mortality rate of ...

Vitamin D3 Breakthrough Halves Risk of Second Heart Attack

Nov. 10, 2025 Intermountain Health researchers discovered that customizing vitamin D3 doses for heart attack survivors slashed their risk of another heart attack by 50%. The strategy involved frequent monitoring ...