An experimental drug developed from research at the Medical University of South Carolina is showing early promise for some patients with advanced prostate cancer whose disease no longer responds to standard hormone therapies. In a Phase 2 clinical trial, researchers tested opaganib in combination with existing treatments and found that a subset of patients experienced encouraging signs that the therapy may be slowing the disease, including drops in blood markers linked to prostate cancer and periods of disease stabilization. Researchers are now analyzing blood samples from patients in the trial to identify biomarkers that could help predict who is most likely to benefit from the treatment. The findings could help advance a more personalized approach to prostate cancer care while opening the door to future therapies targeting the same biological pathway.

Researchers studying 5556 participants in a Chinese endoscopy-screened cohort found that genetic risk and lifestyle independently and jointly influenced upper gastrointestinal cancer risk. The study identified a potential new gastric cancer susceptibility locus at 6p12.1 from genome-wide association study and showed that adding polygenic risk scores to conventional risk models improved risk stratification. A healthy lifestyle reduced risk across genetic risk groups, with greater benefit among those at high genetic risk.

A research team has proposed a provocative shift in how some of the hardest-to-treat cancers might be understood and managed. 

Blood tests to detect potential signs of prostate cancer likely reduce the risk of dying from prostate cancer, an updated Cochrane review finds. This is a shift from the previous version of the review, which did not find sufficient evidence that screening reduced prostate cancer deaths.