While current immune checkpoint inhibitor therapies are largely ineffective against pancreatic cancer, scientists in the U.S. have now identified an immune checkpoint molecule that could represent a promising immunotherapeutic target for this tumor type. The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center-led team found that V-domain immunoglobulin suppressor of T cell activation (VISTA) is preferentially expressed at high levels in pancreatic cancer, when compared with melanoma tumors.

They fight viruses and bacteria in our skin, brain, lungs and gut. Now Australian scientists have also discovered that these special immune cells have the power to put melanoma tumours ‘‘to sleep’’, potentially paving the way for new treatments. It has previously been known that tissue-resident memory T cells help fight cancer, but until now researchers have not understood how they do so.

Researchers in Australia have developed a 10-minute test that can detect the presence of cancer cells anywhere in the human body, according to a newly published study. The test was developed after researchers from the University of Queensland found that cancer forms a unique DNA structure when placed in water. The test works by identifying the presence of that structure, a discovery that could help detect cancer in humans far earlier than current methods, according to the paper published in journal Nature Communications.

On a recent Saturday afternoon, in an estuary near Tampa Bay, Florida, I watched airboats move up and down the river banks, spraying massive plumes of weedkiller on to the vegetation. The state of Florida was trying to control and kill off scores of plant species. Nearby, children were lying out in the sun, though they knew better than to swim in the water, which has recently been blooming with toxic algae. Mists of weedkiller drifted downwind toward them.

Switching off the enzyme that adds protective caps to chromosome ends could help fight many types of cancer, A*STAR researchers have shown. The team demonstrated the treatment's potential by using it to thwart tumor growth in mice. The zipper style of DNA replication means that the tips of chromosomes cannot be copied, leaving them slightly shorter with each cell division. To prevent loss of genetic information, chromosome ends are protected by caps called telomeres—repetitive, gene-free regions (see image).

A woman who beat cancer hit back at men who made cruel comments about her appearance - by sharing a picture of her mastectomy scars. Laura Owens, from Formby, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2012, when she was just 31. She had her right breast removed and reconstructed in that year, before deciding to have the other breast removed and reconstructed in 2014.

Research led by the University of Plymouth and Technische Universität Dresden has identified a new therapeutic target for cancer treatment and tissue regeneration - a protein called Prominin-1. Dr Bing Hu from Plymouth's Institute of Translational and Stratified Medicine (ITSMed) together with Dr Denis Corbeil from the Technische Universität Dresden and a multinational team has shown how Prominin-1 (also known as CD133) plays a significant role in ensuring stem cells respond to extracellular signals.

Clean modern homes, antiseptic wipes and the understandable desire to protect small babies against any infection are all part of the cause of the most common form of childhood cancer, a leading expert has concluded after more than 30 years of research. Childhood acute leukaemia, says the highly respected Prof Mel Greaves, is nothing to do with power lines or nuclear fuel reprocessing stations. Nor is it to do with hot dogs and hamburgers or the Vatican radio mast, as have also been suggested.

Immune cells from the woman’s own body used to wipe out tumours.

Via a mouse model, OHSU physician-scientists lead effort to hone a drug that inhibits cancer cells from spreading to other areas in the body.

The major policy overhaul is announced just as 'Dying to Survive,' a film about the plight of poor cancer sufferers, was storming China's cinemas, earning $232 million in just five days. China has vowed to accelerate its efforts to cut the costs of lifesaving cancer drugs, a move many are viewing as a response to a local blockbuster that highlights the social ills caused by overpriced medication in the country.

Monsanto has long worked to “bully scientists” and suppress evidence of the cancer risks of its popular weedkiller, a lawyer argued on Monday in a landmark lawsuit against the global chemical corporation. “Monsanto has specifically gone out of its way to bully ... and to fight independent researchers,” said the attorney Brent Wisner, who presented internal Monsanto emails that he said showed how the agrochemical company rejected critical research and expert warnings over the years while pursuing and helping to write favorable analyses of their products. “They fought science.”

Two years ago, Ian McKenzie thought his mom's remaining days were dwindling. The 97-year-old woman had developed a severe case of what was thought to be an untreatable form of squamous cell carcinoma, the second leading form of skin cancer. Lesions had developed over much of her right leg, in such numbers and size that chemotherapy and surgery were ruled out as treatments.

A study performed by an international team led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), a centre supported by the ”la Caixa” Foundation, reports a link between exposure to blue light at night and higher risk of developing breast and prostate cancer. Blue light is a range of the visible light spectrum emitted by most white LEDs and many tablet and phone screens. The results have been published in Environmental Health Perspectives.

National legalization of marijuana may be drawing a smidgeon closer. The National Cancer Institute (NCI), one of the federal government sponsored agencies, has just updated the FAQs on its website to include recent studies on marijuana showing that it can and has killed cancer cells.

People with signs of the disease are failing to act, with many worrying they will waste a doctor’s time, a new survey reveals. Despite discovering a potential symptom of cancer, half the UK population would not seek medical help with many too afraid that they may be wasting a doctor’s time by raising it. In addition, one in four people would not bother having a symptom examined for fear of what the doctor might find, according to a new survey by Populus.

A senior official at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center has received millions of dollars in payments from companies that are involved in medical research.

It's a devastating case that serves as the medical warning we didn't even know we needed. An organ donor unknowingly bequeathed her undetected, malignant cancer at the same time as her organs.

Women who use modern forms of the combined pill are at a lower risk of developing ovarian cancer than women who don’t take hormonal contraception, research suggests. The study backs up previous findings for older forms of the combined pill – an oral contraceptive that contains artificial versions of both oestrogen and progesterone. Modern forms of the pill contain different doses of synthetic oestrogen and different types of progestins, and are sometimes taken continuously.

To find out why cancer rates vary across the world, scientists are searching for the genomic fingerprints left by different causes of cancer.

The secret tactics used by global chemical giant Monsanto, to protect its billion-dollar business and its star product, the weed killer, Roundup.

Last month, Skye Savren-McCormick got to be the flower girl in a wedding. To prepare, she practiced walking with a little basket in her living room. Even so, on the day of the wedding the 3-year-old still took a big fistful of petals and dropped them on the ground before taking her first step down the aisle. And the wedding guests could barely hold it together.

Taller people have a greater risk of cancer because they are bigger and so have more cells in their bodies in which dangerous mutations can occur, new research has suggested. A number of studies have previously found a link between a lofty stature and a greater risk of developing some form of cancer, with research suggesting that for every 10cm of height within the typical range for humans, the risk increases by about 10%. A similar link has also been found in dogs, with bigger breeds having a greater risk of such diseases.

Chad Walde believed in his work at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Then he got a rare brain cancer linked to radiation, and the government denied it had any responsibility.

Revolutionary work on the body’s immune system and a host of new drug trials mean that beating cancer may be achievable

Like most parents, Bryan Shaw snapped unending pictures of his new son Noah. But when the baby was just a few months old, Shaw’s wife Elizabeth started to notice something odd about the pictures: in them, one of Noah’s eyes appeared milky-white instead of red.

Experiments on mice are widely used to help determine which new cancer therapies stand a good chance of working in human patients. Such studies are not perfect and, all too often, what works in a rodent produces little or no benefit in people. This has led researchers to explore the ways in which mice and men are dissimilar, in order to pick apart why the responses are different. A new study now proposes that the temperature in which lab mice are kept is one thing that does matter.

Scientists have found a very unusual potential cancer-fighting technique: nanoparticles that carry curry into cancer cells. Specifically the particles were filled with curcumin, a compound found in curry. The research by scientists from the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Austria was published in the Journal of Nanobiotechnology on Dec. 6.

Nick Wilkins was diagnosed with leukemia when he was 4 years old, and when the cancer kept bouncing back, impervious to all the different treatments the doctors tried, his father sat him down for a talk. John Wilkins explained to Nick, who was by then 14, that doctors had tried chemotherapy, radiation, even a bone marrow transplant from his sister.

Gene therapy has just begun to set the health-world abuzz with some of its most recent successes. Patients with leukemia and other blood cancers are seeing unprecedented results with these new treatments, sending some into full remission by attacking and killing the highly fatal diseases.

Ballerina Bob has taken hundreds of photos of himself in a frilly tutu - all because he wants to make his poorly wife laugh

Bill Keller’s op-ed for the New York Times about the most respectable way to die from cancer could be the subject of 100 great lessons in how not to write about human beings. Keller contrasts the case of his father-in-law, who died at age 79 with a stiff upper lip, with that of Lisa Boncheck Adams, a fortysomething mother of three with breast cancer, who has been blogging and tweeting about her treatment and experience with the disease for years.

Fifty years ago, smoking was linked to cancer in the first surgeon general's report on tobacco. On Friday, Dr. Boris Lushniak, the acting surgeon general, issued the 32nd report on tobacco, saying "enough is enough." His goal: eliminating the use of cigarettes and tobacco.

Grilling meats is an American tradition, but it’s not the healthiest thing to do. A growing body of research suggests that cooking meats over a flame is linked to cancer. Combusting wood, gas, or charcoal emits chemicals known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Exposure to these so-called PAHs is known to cause skin, liver, stomach, and several other types of cancer in lab animals.

I always knew I’d die, without knowing when. But now I knew it acutely.