Events for February 12, 2016

Vaccines already exist that prevent cancers caused by infection, such as against the human papilloma virus that causes some cervical cancers. But this challenge is to develop vaccines that work against non-viral cancers, which are caused by faults in our DNA that accumulate over time. That’s what really makes this a Grand Challenge. Because cancer [...]

Around 19 in 20 adults carry the Epstein Barr Virus (EBV), making it one of the most common human viral infections. In most people, EBV is relatively harmless, although it’s the cause of glandular fever, “kissing disease”. But in some parts of the world it’s a big problem – every year, EBV infection accounts for [...]

Certain things in the world around us, such as tobacco smoke, cause cancer. They do this by triggering chemical changes inside cells, leading to errors in the reading of the DNA genetic code. The patterns of these DNA changes are different for each cause (or ‘carcinogen’) – almost as if they are signing their names [...]

It’s a hard concept to imagine, but not all of the things we call ‘cancer’ need to be treated. Some ‘cancers’ are temporary changes to cells that will reverse or disappear with time, and others are so slow-growing they’ll never cause any problems. For some cancers, over-diagnosis leads to unnecessary treatment and avoidable side effects. [...]

Cancer cells live in complex communities. Just like houses in a city, each cell in a tumour is different from its neighbour, and relies on infrastructure to support its existence. There are different neighbourhoods–some worse than others. Where we have roads, tumours contain blood vessels that deliver nutrients, and act as highways for different cell [...]

Myc is a gene that is mutated and persistently switched on in the majority of human cancers – it’s a hallmark of the disease in nearly seven out of ten cases. Mutant and overactive Myc helps tumours survive, and this strongly suggests that blocking its function would be a powerful approach to treating many types [...]

In recent years, scientists have been experimenting with using large molecules called ‘macromolecules’ to target and destroy tumour cells. These macromolecules can disrupt the processes that cancer cells use to survive – for example by stopping them from growing or by flagging their presence to the body’s immune system. This approach works very well on [...]