EurekAlert! In the Spotlight - Infectious Diseases

This month, we’re focusing on infectious diseases, a topic that affects lives and communities around the world. Here, you’ll find the latest research news, insights, and discoveries shaping how infectious diseases are being studied, prevented, and treated globally.

Alliance announces FDA approval of atezolizumab based on results from the Phase III ATOMIC trial for patients with Stage III dMMR colon cancer

Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology
Business Announcement

The Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology (Alliance) today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the immunotherapy drug atezolizumab (Tecentriq^®) in combination with fluoropyrimidine and oxaliplatin chemotherapy, for the adjuvant treatment of patients with stage III colon cancer with deficient deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) mismatch repair (dMMR).

9-Oct-2026

FDA approves immunotherapy regimen studied by Mayo Clinic for stage 3 colon cancer

Mayo Clinic

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the immunotherapy drug atezolizumab in combination with chemotherapy for some patients with stage 3 colon cancer following surgery.

8-Oct-2026

Aspirin rarely used for colorectal cancer prevention

Universitatsklinikum Bonn
Peer-Reviewed Publication

According to international studies, taking Acetylsalicylic acid daily can protect people with Lynch syndrome from developing colorectal cancer – even at low doses. Researchers from the University Hospital Bonn (UKB), the University of Bonn, and the Center for Integrated Oncology (CIO) Bonn, in collaboration with the self-help organization SemiColon, have now found that these scientific findings have so far been insufficiently incorporated into clinical practice. The results of the LYNX study have now been published as a letter in the journal *The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology*.

Journal: The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology

8-Oct-2026

Shifting immune cells back toward cancer-fighting mode

Nagoya University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Macrophages in tumors can switch to an immunosuppressive state that helps cancer grow. Researchers in Japan and Australia found that the enzyme ST6GAL1 drives this switch by remodeling surface sugar chains. In lab studies, suppressing it slowed colorectal cancer cell growth and made macrophages more effective at fighting tumors.

Funder: National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Ideas, KAKENHI, Australian Research Council Future Fellowship

7-Oct-2026

Sylvester Cancer Tip Sheet for September and October, 2026

University of Miami Miller School of Medicine
Reports and Proceedings

The September/October tip sheet from Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, part of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, contains a variety of cancer-related story ideas. These include a breakthrough targeted therapy for pancreatic cancer, research showing alcohol’s toll extends beyond the liver, a pilot study to see if routine lab results can predict chemotherapy side effects and a profile of a breast oncologist explaining how treatment advances have led to more personalized breast cancer care.

7-Oct-2026

Novel radiotherapy may save increasingly many rectal cancer patients from surgery and stoma

Tampere University
Reports and Proceedings

Tampere University Hospital (Tays) has begun to offer a new radiotherapy to treat rectal cancer in which an intensive dose of radiation is targeted to the tumour surface. The aim is to destroy the tumour so that increasingly many patients may avoid a massive surgery and a potentially permanent stoma. Finland is at the forefront of implementing this novel treatment.

2-Oct-2026

Colorectal cancer on the rise in adolescent patients

American Academy of Pediatrics
Reports and Proceedings

Rates of advanced stage colorectal cancer are climbing in young patients, marking a need for increased vigilance, according to data presented during the American Academy of Pediatrics 2026 National Conference & Exhibition Oct. 2-6, 2026, at the San Diego Convention Center.

The research, “Clinical Presentation and Epidemiology of Pediatric and Adolescent Colorectal Carcinoma: A Pediatric Surgical Oncology Research Collaborative Study,” retrospectively examined the medical files of 84 patients 21 years or younger.

Meeting: American Academy of Pediatrics 2026 National Conference & Exhibition

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