Cancer

Topic description and stories

We are are helping to end death and disease caused by cancer, saving more lives by detecting early and personalising treatments. The experiences of patients and their families shape every stage of research and of plans for the Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital, as we work together to change the story of cancer.

Professor Jean Abraham speaking to a patient

Cambridge is changing the story of cancer

15 July 2024

Find out about groundbreaking cancer research at Cambridge, including our planned new hospital, how we're studying the earliest stages of cancer, how AI is helping fight the disease, and the patients playing a key role in our work.

Dr Robin Hesketh with flourescent images of (normal) human cell lines grown in culture.

Everything we think we know – and know we don’t know – about cancer

06 Jun 2012

A book written for the general reader, Betrayed by Nature: The War on Cancer by Dr Robin Hesketh, sets out in plain English what goes wrong in our...

Landmark breast cancer study paves way for tailored treatments

18 Apr 2012

Researchers have identified 10 different types of the disease, laying groundwork for more effective, targeted treatment plans.

Study examines number of GP visits before cancer patients are referred to specialists

24 Feb 2012

Patient information reveals women, young people, ethnic minorities and people with less common cancers have the highest number of pre-referral...

Image-guided intensity modulated RT plan for a patient with a spinal tumour. The radiation dose is shaped away from the kidneys (yellow outlines) and the spinal nerve roots (inside the green outline). The colour wash represents radiation dose

Project to improve radiotherapy planning

30 Jan 2012

A collaborative project between physicists, oncologists and computer scientists at Oxford and Cambridge Universities, launched last month, will...

Reprogrammed oestrogen binding linked to more aggressive breast cancer

05 Jan 2012

Researchers have discovered how receptors for the female sex hormone oestrogen attach to a different part of the DNA in breast cancer patients who...

Mining the language of science

18 Nov 2011

Scientists are developing a computer that can read vast amounts of scientific literature, make connections between facts and develop hypotheses.

Scientists demonstrate potential new treatment for most common form of infant leukaemia

03 Oct 2011

New drug could treat mixed-lineage leukaemia (MLL).

Womb and prostate cancer link revealed

18 Apr 2011

Scientists have carried out the first ever genome scan for womb cancer and discovered a genetic region that reduces risk of the disease, according to...

Middle aged diabetics can die six years earlier

14 Mar 2011

Having diabetes in mid-life may reduce a person’s life expectancy by an average of six years, according to a large, multinational study coordinated...