Posts

May 14, 2013

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3:36 PM | Angelina Jolie, inherited breast cancer and the BRCA1 gene

The news today is full of reaction to US actress Angelina Jolie’s decision to have surgery to reduce her chances of breast cancer. She made this difficult decision because, having lost her mother to ovarian cancer, she discovered she carries … Continue reading →

May 01, 2013

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4:57 PM | Detecting cancer early – the second NAEDI Conference

Diagnosing a cancer early is one of the factors that can make the biggest difference in its successful treatment. Launched in 2008, the National Awareness and Early Diagnosis Initiative (NAEDI) is a partnership between Cancer Research UK and the Department … Continue reading →

April 24, 2013

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3:05 PM | The challenge of spotting cancers in children

One Sunday evening in 2008, after giving her one-year-old daughter a bath, Ruth Hillman noticed Georgia’s tummy felt firmer than usual. Alarm bells began to ring. By Wednesday, after seeing several different doctors, Ruth and her husband Ben were told … Continue reading →

April 08, 2013

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11:43 AM | Watching cancers evolve using ‘liquid biopsies’

Sometimes it feels like cancer research is progressing at a dizzying speed. Just last year, we reported how Cancer Research UK scientists had reconstructed the evolution of a patient’s kidney tumour during treatment – one of many studies over the … Continue reading →

Murtaza M., Dawson S.J., Tsui D.W.Y., Gale D., Forshew T., Piskorz A.M., Parkinson C., Chin S.F., Kingsbury Z. & Wong A.S.C. & (2013). Non-invasive analysis of acquired resistance to cancer therapy by sequencing of plasma DNA, Nature, DOI: 10.1038/nature12065

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March 16, 2013

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1:28 PM | News digest – breast cancer blood test, eye cancer, Tasmanian Devils and more

Our top story this week is a little left-field, and concerns a marsupial called the Tasmanian devil, which is threatened by from unique infectious cancer spread by biting. This week, researchers in Cambridge have made a big step forward in understanding how … Continue reading →

March 14, 2013

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3:28 PM | A day in the life of Birmingham Cancer Research UK Centre

Ever wondered what actually goes on inside a cancer research lab? The Birmingham Cancer Research UK Centre is a partnership between Cancer Research UK, the University of Birmingham, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust and Birmingham Children’s Hospital Foundation Trust. Yesterday, the centre’s staff – … Continue reading →

March 07, 2013

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6:05 PM | Bacon battered? Today’s headlines explained

As if the horsemeat scandal wasn’t bad enough, this morning’s headlines brought further news of the dangers of eating too much processed meat: an increased risk of an early grave. The news come from a huge Europe-wide study – called … Continue reading →

Rohrmann S., Overvad K., Bueno-de-Mesquita H.B., Jakobsen M.U., Egeberg R., Tjonneland A., Nailler L., Boutron-Ruault M.C., Clavel-Chapelon F. & Krogh V. & (2013). Meat consumption and mortality - results from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition, BMC Medicine, 11 (1) 63. DOI: 10.1186/1741-7015-11-63

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10:17 AM | Guest post – “The first and last time she’d ever use a sunbed”

Rob Hall is an Environmental Health Officer for Bury Council in Greater Manchester, with more than 10 years’ experience. The Sunbeds (Regulation) Act 2010 – introduced after lengthy parliamentary debate and campaigning - makes it illegal for businesses to allow anyone … Continue reading →

March 02, 2013

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9:00 AM | News – bowel cancer chaos, breast cancer stats, citizen science and more

This week’s big science story comes from our London Research Institute, where researchers have found a molecular mechanism that causes extreme chromosomal chaos in bowel cancer. The BBC had this take, while we took a look at the science behind … Continue reading →

February 27, 2013

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6:00 PM | Order from chaos – making sense of bowel cancer’s scrambled DNA

Last year, researchers at our London Research Institute published what became – after the discovery of the Higgs boson – the second most-referenced science paper of 2012 Their study looked at how tumours ‘evolve’ during treatment, and showed that, genetically speaking, … Continue reading →

Burrell R.A., McClelland S.E., Endesfelder D., Groth P., Weller M.C., Shaikh N., Domingo E., Kanu N., Dewhurst S.M. & Gronroos E. & (2013). Replication stress links structural and numerical cancer chromosomal instability, Nature, 494 (7438) 492-496. DOI: 10.1038/nature11935

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January 30, 2013

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12:01 AM | Lower awareness isn’t behind the UK’s poorer survival

It has long been known that people in the UK have a lower chance of surviving breast, lung, bowel and ovarian cancer than people in some other developed countries, but the question still remains – why? There are quite a … Continue reading →

Forbes L.J.L., Simon A.E., Warburton F., Boniface D., Brain K.E., Dessaix A., Donnelly C., Haynes K., Hvidberg L. & Lagerlund M. & (2013). Differences in cancer awareness and beliefs between Australia, Canada, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and the UK (the International Cancer Benchmarking Partnership): do they contribute to differences in cancer survival?, British Journal of Cancer, DOI: 10.1038/bjc.2012.542

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January 15, 2013

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1:04 PM | A future free from the fear of cancer? Yes, but.

Yesterday, we posted a picture on our Facebook page, which carried a bold statement from one of our senior researchers, Professor Gerard Evan. In it, he said with confidence that he felt that his children, now in their twenties, “will … Continue reading →

December 22, 2012

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11:17 AM | News digest – cancer risk, prostate genes, melanoma, immune system faults and more

Thankfully (at least as we write this) the world hasn’t ended, so we’re able to welcome you to our final news digest of 2012. We start with our big story this week: despite improved survival, boys born in 2027 will … Continue reading →

December 15, 2012

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9:57 AM | The NHS reforms – are they affecting cancer care?

Next April, the Government’s much-discussed NHS reforms come in to full effect. But preparation is already underway for what many see as one of the biggest changes to the NHS’s structure in its lifetime. Staff around the NHS are being … Continue reading →

December 12, 2012

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6:00 PM | Video – Cancer Research UK scientists find cell division’s ‘missing link’

Cancer begins when cells in our bodies start growing out of control. So understanding precisely how cells divide in two, and what controls and coordinates this process, is fundamental to our understanding of the disease. For cell division to go … Continue reading →

November 26, 2012

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3:37 PM | Recognition in the 2012 Science Blog Prize

We’ve had some great news – last night this blog was recognised in the Good Thinking Society’s first ever Science Blog Prize. Set up by authors Simon Singh and Ben Goldacre, the prize aims to reflect the enormous growth in … Continue reading →

November 07, 2012

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6:37 PM | Notes from NCRI conference (day 4)

Before the final day of the conference started, we once again awoke to news stories based on research presented over the last few days. The BBC led with figures released at the conference showing that the economic cost of cancer … Continue reading →

November 06, 2012

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8:38 PM | Notes from the NCRI conference (day 3)

It’s been another packed day at the NCRI conference, full of interesting discussion and debate (as were yesterday’s and Sunday’s sessions). But before we get stuck into the day’s events, it’s worth flagging the overnight media coverage from the meeting, … Continue reading →

November 05, 2012

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9:01 PM | Notes from the NCRI conference (day 2)

Welcome back to our coverage of this year’s NCRI cancer conference. We woke up this morning to some great media coverage. The BBC was one of several sources to report a small step forward in bowel cancer research, the Scotsman … Continue reading →

November 04, 2012

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7:32 PM | Notes from the 2012 NCRI conference (day 1)

It’s November, which means we’re in Liverpool again for the annual NCRI conference. Researchers from around the world will be spending the next three days in the BT Convention Centre on the River Mersey, discussing the latest and greatest developments … Continue reading →

November 02, 2012

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4:53 PM | The slow dawn of the age of targeted therapies

This morning, the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) reversed its original, preliminary decisions over two cutting-edge ‘targeted’ melanoma treatments – ipilimumab and vemurafenib. Both drugs will now be available on the NHS to suitable patients throughout England, Wales and … Continue reading →

October 30, 2012

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12:01 AM | How can we improve the breast cancer screening programme?

Breast screening is back in the news. At the request of the Government and Cancer Research UK, an independent expert panel has scrutinised all the available evidence on the pros and cons of mammography. And this morning they’ve published their findings in The … Continue reading →

October 24, 2012

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1:50 PM | Help us beat cancer – with just a few clicks of your mouse

Imagine a world where millions of people are helping to find ways to control and cure cancer, from the comfort of their own homes. Imagine these people taking part in a project which might – one day – become a … Continue reading →

October 17, 2012

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4:43 PM | Why we’re Standing Up To Cancer

Sometimes the battle of science against cancer can seem like a long, hard slog. But history proves that research can make a difference. Cancer survival rates in the UK have doubled in the last 40 years, and research has been … Continue reading →

October 16, 2012

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3:03 PM | The party conference – our Ambassador’s view

Former police constable David Collins is a volunteer Ambassador for our political campaigns. We took David and 17 other passionate advocates to Liberal Democrat, Labour and Conservative party conferences this year, to represent our campaign for plain packaging of tobacco. … Continue reading →

October 03, 2012

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3:41 PM | Treating late-stage ovarian cancer – why does the UK do so badly?

One of the most important facts about cancer, which seems so obvious that repeating it again is almost banal, is that the earlier cancer is detected, the better. Another frequently repeated ‘cancer fact’ is that UK patients tend to do … Continue reading →

Maringe, C., Walters, S., Butler, J., Coleman, M.P., Hacker, N., Hanna, L., Mosgaard, B.J., Nordin, A., Rosen, B. & Engholm, G. (2012). Stage at diagnosis and ovarian cancer survival: Evidence from the International Cancer Benchmarking Partnership, Gynecologic Oncology, 127 (1) 82. DOI: 10.1016/j.ygyno.2012.06.033

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September 26, 2012

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1:38 PM | Stoptober – a great way to quit smoking

Quitting smoking – if we could persuade people to make one change to their lifestyle, this would be it. Smoking is by far the most important preventable cause of cancer in the world. It accounts for one in four UK cancer … Continue reading →

September 24, 2012

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11:01 PM | Cancer rates continue to fall

Today our stats team has published new data, forecasting that the proportion of people who die from cancer will continue to fall over the next 18 years. Rather than penning another 1,000 word treatise on the matter, we thought we’d … Continue reading →

September 15, 2012

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8:00 AM | News digest – lung cancer genomes, breast screening, DNA tags to predict melanoma, and more

The week’s big news was the publication of three important papers looking at the genes involved in lung cancer in unprecedented detail. We covered the story on our newsfeed, but Nature’s news team also had a good take on it. … Continue reading →

September 14, 2012

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11:48 AM | Guest post: ‘A Cyberknife in every radiotherapy centre would be madness right now’

In response to recent media stories, Richard Evans, chief executive of the Society and College of Radiographers – one of our partners in the National Radiotherapy Awareness Initiative – asks whether calls for more ‘Cyberknife’ radiotherapy are justified. Not so … Continue reading →

May 14, 2013

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February 27, 2013

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November 26, 2012

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October 30, 2012

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