cancer

Pancreatic cancer was almost invincible. A new targeted therapy just doubled survival

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Pancreatic cancer has been, for decades, one of the biggest challenges of modern oncology. Its diagnosis usually arrives late and therapeutic options in advanced stages have historically been limited, accompanying a mortality very high. But a new experimental drug has hit the table by promising to double survival in patients who have the most severe forms of the disease. The protagonist of this revolution is called daraxonrasib and has come to light together with the data recently presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology congress that has shaken the medical community, confirming that we are facing a possible paradigm shift for a disease that had not received good news for too long. More months. To understand the magnitude of the advance, you have to look at the results of the phase 3 trial, called RASolute 302. This study has focused on patients with metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma who had already received previous treatments without success. Until now, the standard therapy, which is the well-known chemotherapy, in this second line of treatment offered a median overall survival of just 6.7 months. But it has been seen that, when administering daraxonrasibthe median overall survival shot up to 13.2 months. That is, practically double. And there is more. The trial, considered the first large phase three study of a drug of this type in this context, not only demonstrated an improvement in lifespan, but also in disease progression-free survival and in the objective response rate of tumors. The endorsement Although it may seem very promising and fanciful, we are seeing that this therapy is based on a scientific basis that had already been audited and published at the highest level. By this we refer to the published results of the previous phases of this trial that were public in The New England analyzing 168 previously treated patients, and a powerful antitumor activity was seen. But it is not without problems, since the NEJM article detailed that about a third of patients experienced significant adverse effects. However, in the context of metastatic pancreatic cancer, the risk-benefit balance is considered extraordinarily promising. An invincible enemy. The real technical triumph of daraxonrasib is its mechanism of action, since pancreatic cancer is known to be largely driven by mutations in the RAS gene family, and especially KRAS. And for more than 30 years, the scientific community considered that proteins mutated by KRAS were impossible to medicate. But now daraxonrasib is a multi-RAS inhibitor that acts on the mutations of this very specific protein that were the gateway to pancreatic cancer. This makes it the first pancreatic targeted therapy capable of offering sustained responses over time. The Spanish accent. The arrival at phase 3 does not mean that the research ends here, but rather that the scientific community is already looking for a way to enhance this drug with other drugs to prevent the tumor from ‘learning’ to endure it. In this field of preclinical biology, the work of Spanish researchers stands out. The group of the prestigious scientist Mariano Barbacid has already documented work in animal models using a triple combination that includes daraxonrasib along with other drugs that have been on many people’s lips recently. Images | MedinePlus CDC In Xataka | The Chinese company Alibaba has an AI to detect pancreatic cancer. It is so good that the US has accelerated its approval

A new study reveals how they manage to avoid cancer

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Reaching 100 years old is a statistical feat, but do it while avoiding diseases as serious as cancer or surviving a serious infection is almost a superpower. For decades, science has been asked what makes centenarians biologically special to reach where few reach, and the clearest answer we have right now is that your immune system ages at a completely different rate than the rest of us mortals. The passage of time. As we age, our body deteriorates at a more or less rate depending on how much we have taken care of it with the lifestyle we have wanted to follow. But something that cannot be skipped is the generation of a low-grade chronic inflammation called ‘inflammation‘ which is the perfect breeding ground for cells to deteriorate, cardiovascular problems and tumors to appear. An exception. But as a recent review points out published in Nature With Spanish participation, it has been seen that centenarians have an extremely efficient system for “cleaning” damaged or senescent cells before they cause problems, something that is very efficient in young people, but becomes less so with the passage of time. But in addition, compared to the impoverishment of the intestinal flora common in old age, centenarians preserve a spectacular microbial diversity, also lacking the pro-inflammatory obesity that affects a large part of the population. But not everything is natural genetics, since the habits one follows and the environment in which one has lived shape part of the genetics by activating or deactivating genes, protecting them from accumulated damage. The paradox of cancer. One of the most fascinating data that medical research reveals is the relationship between centenarians and cancer. Although the risk of suffering from tumors increases with age as more genetic errors accumulate, when the 100-year barrier is exceeded, the curve falls sharply. This means that the incidence of cancer in people over the age of one century is less than 4%. And again the question is: why? Here, science suggests that centenarians have very high selective cytotoxicity, that is, cells with problems inside are destroyed before they get worse. Here the protagonists are the immune cells that maintain relentless anti-tumor surveillance, eliminating malignant cells with the efficiency of a young adult, but maintaining a high tolerance towards their own healthy tissues to avoid autoimmune diseases such as the famous rheumatoid arthritis that is quite common in older people. We are moving forward. The study does not remain only in the laboratory, but compiles evidence about the “real world” such as the famous ‘Blue Zones’ of Okinawa (Japan) where great longevity among its inhabitants stands out. Here the autopsies on the corpses indicated that their coronary arteries were obstructed by age but that they had only suffered massive fatal heart attacks. Here the body had found ways to adapt and survive. During the worst waves of COVID, there have also been cases of centenarians in residences who managed to survive the virus even without being vaccinated. This fits with the published data in 2023 by Nature Aging on supercentenarians in Boston, who revealed an “elite” immune system, trained by a lifetime of environmental exposures that formed a profile highly resilient to infections. For the future. Although genetics are important, what we can control much better are lifestyle habits and their effect on how certain genes are expressed. In this way, it is about investigating the people who survive the longest with the aim of ‘copying’ what they do to find the Holy Grail of longevity. Images | freepik In Xataka | The promise of 120 years is dismantled: biology sets a life ceiling that is quite difficult to break

Barbacid’s promising cancer study has been withdrawn. The reason is not science, it is a “hidden” spin-off

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Last December, the team led by the prestigious researcher Mariano Barbacid filled the headlines of the main media with great news: had found a triple therapy to eliminate pancreatic tumors in animal models. Very relevant news because of how deadly pancreatic cancer is and how it affects our society, but now this euphoria has hit a wall after the decision of the US National Academy of Sciences to remove the item from PNAS magazine. The context. The original article, published on December 2 of last year, was not just another publication, but described the results of administering three drugs in 45 mice who had pancreatic cancer. And although it was a preclinical study that had not been tested in humans and was the expected next step, it generated great expectation. The promise of a cure, even if it was in the animal phase, propelled intense fundraising campaigns to be able to start a clinical trial with humans as soon as possible. In this way, foundations such as CRIS against cancer achieved raise 3.7 million euros in the heat of these advances and thanks to the media showcase that was given to them. And now they withdraw it. The first thing to keep in mind when faced with so many alarmist headlines is that it is not removed from the PNAS magazine because the results have been invented or exaggerated, but rather the reason lies in the omission of important information regarding to conflict of interest. In this case Mariano Barbacid, taking advantage of his status as a member of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States, used a “fast track” of publication that is reserved for academics of this institution. The problem is that this privilege requires scrupulous and impeccable transparency. Data omission. As detailed by El Paísthe alarms went off in February 2026, when the academy received notices about possible conflicts of interest that have now led to the sudden retraction of the article. The problem is that Mariano Barbacid, along with researchers Carmen Guerra and Vasiliki Liaki, are co-owners of Vega Oncotargetsa spin-off which was born in the ecosystem of the National Cancer Research Center (CNIO) with the aim of developing and marketing therapies against pancreatic cancer like this one. This is why informing the journal that the authors had a direct economic and business interest in the success of the study is a violation of the most basic transparency regulations in scientific publication. It always happens. When a researcher wants to publish the results of his or her research, a lot of data must always be provided, both about the method that has been followed and everything behind it, such as the source of financing or the conflicts behind. For example, if a researcher owns shares of a large pharmaceutical company and studies one of its drugs, logically good results will benefit him because the value of the company will increase. And this is something that should always be reported so that anyone reading the research knows if the researcher may have been influenced by an economic component. And in this particular case, the fact that there is already a company that will commercialize the future therapy that is being investigated is logically something that must always be specified, because if the study goes well, it logically benefits the company enormously. There are already answers. As we say, PNAS sanctions bad practice when it comes to being transparent, but in no case does it indicate that the research is poorly done. Along these lines, Carmen Guerra has already admitted the error, as El País points out, and has confirmed that the team has resubmitted the article with this correction, detailing that they do have participation in Vega Oncatargerts. The problem is that now they are going to have to go through the entire standard review process and the republishing will not be fast. Images | UPV brgfx on Freepik In Xataka | Mice today, hope tomorrow: researchers have managed to attack pancreatic cancer before it forms

a proton accelerator against cancer

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At the Madrid hospital in Fuenlabrada they are building something that, from the outside, doesn’t look like much: a two-story building with three-meter-thick concrete walls, a roof that had to be opened with a crane, and foundations designed to support dozens of tons of machinery. Inside that bunker is kept one of the most valuable assets that Spanish public health has received in decades. That technological jewel that they protect with concrete is the proton accelerator donated by the Amancio Ortega Foundation: one of the ten latest generation machines that the founder of Inditex agreed to surrender to the public health system in October 2021 in a donation valued at 280 million euros. The objective is to install them in seven autonomous communities and transform the cancer treatment in Spain. A custom concrete bunker. Building this type of technology is not like installing a scanner or an X-ray device. The radiation emitted by a proton accelerator requires the construction of a specific building to act as a containment barrier. In Fuenlabrada that has become concrete walls three meters thick. The construction of the bunker began in July 2024 and the regional government has allocated 13 million euros to finance the construction of the new building. According to a statement of the Community of Madrid, the result is a two-story structure with more than 2,000 square meters of total surface area, partially connected to the already existing oncology area. The ground floor, of about 1,300 square meters, will house the diagnosis, treatment and patient preparation areas. The first floor, of 875 square meters, will be used for maintenance, supplies, medical offices and training. The pieces that entered through the roof. The proton therapy equipment is made up of two main elements, and both are already inside the bunker. The first is the Cyclotron, the device that generates and accelerates protons that are then used as “ammunition” against cancer cells. It measures eight meters tall and weighs almost 50 tons. To place it in place, it was necessary to open the roof of the building and use a heavy crane to install it inside the bunker. The second element is the Gantry, the rotating arm that directs the radiation towards the tumor with millimeter precision. This component exceeds 11 meters in height and reaches 75 tons in weight. Its complete rotation capacity is what allows the tumor to be attacked from any angle and reduce damage to healthy surrounding tissues. In this video The installation process of one of these machines in the New York Proton Center is shown, using a process very similar to that used in the Fuenlabrada hospital. Protons change the rules of the game. Proton therapy is not an improved version of conventional radiotherapy, but rather it works with high-energy proton beams capable of concentrating the impact exactly on the tumor and stopping there, without continuing to irradiate the tissues behind. This makes it an especially useful tool for treat hard-to-reach tumorssuch as brain tumors, on neckspinal cord, lung, ocular, sarcomas, etc., and for pediatric patients, where minimize side effects In the long term it is critical. Until now, in Spain there were only two centers with this technology, both private: the Hospital Quirón de Pozuelo de Alarcón and the Clínica Universidad de Navarra. Thanks to the donation from the Amancio Ortega Foundation10 new proton therapy centers will soon be inaugurated in public hospitals distributed throughout the national territory. A nuclear reactor in the basement. The arrival of the two main pieces does not mean that the equipment is ready to use. Only the main elements have been installed in place. Over the next 12 months, engineers will carry out the complete assembly of both components, their calibration and the commissioning of the accelerator. It is a process that involves continuous testing to check and monitor radiation before any patient is approached. In December 2025, the Nuclear Safety Council (CSN) already issued a favorable authorization, with conditions, for the radioactive facility of the hospital: an essential requirement before the unit can operate. It won’t be the first, but it adds up.. The one in Fuenlabrada will not be the first public health device of these characteristics to offer proton therapy treatments. The Galicia center, in Santiago de Compostela, is the most advanced in its installation and already has the Proteus One accelerator. In this case, two bunkers have been necessary (one for treatment and the other for research) and the first patients are expected to be treated at the end of 2026 or beginning of 2027, with capacity for 250 patients per year per room. The Madrid hospital, for its part, aims that its unit will be operational throughout the first quarter of 2027. In Xataka | Amancio Ortega: the billionaire who lives like a neighbor (except for private jets and superyachts) Image | GTRES, New York Proton Center

Pancreatic cancer is a silent killer. A new experimental therapy has managed to “intercept” it before it attacks

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Pancreatic cancer is classically known as one of the most lethal and feared that exist because of how difficult it can be to treat in some cases and the high mortality rates. But this high mortality rate is not due to its aggressiveness from minute 0, but to its stealthy nature, making it when he shows his face With the first symptoms, the disease is already in a very advanced phase that makes treatment very difficult. It’s where to act. In this way, the objective of the researchers is precisely to try to advance the diagnosis as much as possible, since treatment in the initial phases of the disease can give great results. And this is exactly what a new study that focuses on the ‘cancer interception’ strategy suggests. This is something that researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have focused on, who have achieved a vitally important advance in mouse models. And the fact is that, instead of focusing on attacking the already formed pancreatic tumor of considerable size, they have directed their artillery against the microscopic precursor lesions, known as PanIN. Its foundation. This is something that can be reduced to literally putting out the fire when it is still just a small spark. And as the specialized media report, by removing these microscopic lesions precancerous diseases, researchers manage to stop the advance towards the dreaded pancreatic adenocarcinoma in mice, proposing a total paradigm shift in how we could face this disease. Genetics is key. Something that has been known for a long time is that there are people who have a genetic predisposition to suffer from this disease. Specifically, in more than 90% of cases, the mutation responsible for triggering the disease is found in a gene called KRAS. A gene that for decades was considered “unapproachable” by classical pharmacology and that acted as a great shield against the disease. However, medicine is advancing in leaps and bounds, and this study uses selective inhibitors for this gene with the aim of silencing it precisely in PanIN lesions. In this way, by neutralizing the growth signals that the KRAS gene gives to tumor cells, they cannot take the step to begin to spread throughout the body, which causes the most serious symptoms. Mice today, hope for tomorrow. Logically, we must put our feet on the ground, since we are dealing with a preclinical study. That is, the therapy has proven to be a resounding success in animal models, but there is still a long way to go until this therapy can be used in a human in a hospital, since it must be seen that the effect is similar in our organisms. However, this research fits perfectly with the new medical philosophy against pancreatic cancer. As highlighted by the National Cancer Research Center (CNIO) in his recent communicationsthe future undoubtedly involves knowing the personalized risk and ensuring that those people who are more likely to suffer from pancreatic cancer due to their genetics receive exhaustive screening to detect the disease in time and increase the probability of survival. Images | Bioscience Image Library In Xataka | A Spanish milestone against pancreatic cancer: we are one step closer to eradicating it but there is still a long way to go

an mRNA vaccine that reduced his dog’s cancer

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Paul Conyngham is not a biologist. He is not a veterinarian either. He is an engineer from Sydney with almost two decades of experience in the field of data science and AI. In 2024, her dog Rosie received a terrible diagnosis: she had mast cell cancer, the most common skin cancer in dogs and practically untreatable with conventional methods. After trying everything, Conyngham decided to take an alternative path: opened ChatGPT and started asking him questions. ChatGPT as a starting point. OpenAI’s AI model acted as Conyngham’s research assistant. It helped him make a plan in a field he knew absolutely nothing about, and it was the chatbot that suggested he explore immunotherapy treatments. He also pointed out the existence of the Ramaciotti Center for Genomics at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), and there he began a fascinating journey. $3,000 to sequence a tumor. At that Conyngham research center got in touch with Associate Professor Martin Smith, one of its leaders. Conyngham paid $3,000 to sequence the DNA from Rosie’s tumor, which Smith found strange: They typically don’t support sequencing requested by individuals because interpreting the data is extraordinarily difficult. But Conyngham assured him that he had nothing to worry about and told him that he was a data analyst and that he would analyze them with the help of ChatGPT. From ChatGPT to AlphaFold. With that sequencing data in hand, Conyngham used a variety of AI tools—not just ChatGPT—to identify the relevant mutations. Then he went one step further and used AlphaFoldthe Google DeepMind program that predicts the three-dimensional structure of proteins. That allowed him to model which of those mutations could be driving the tumor. From this data he identified candidate drugs to help in the treatment of cancer and presented himself to the UNSW researchers with his homework done. First obstacle: bureaucracy. The research team identified an immunotherapy drug that seemed promising, but its manufacturer refused to supply it for this type of application. It was a hard blow for Conyngham, but then Smith told him about mRNA vaccines and asked him if he wanted to explore that avenue. Of course, said Conyngham. Actually manufacturing the vaccine was only half the problem, because administering it required ethical approval permission, which allows experiments involving living beings. After preparing a 100-page document over the next two months, Conyngham won that approval. Vaccines in two months. A division of UNSW led by Professor Pall Thordarson, manufactured the vaccine from the half-page formula that Conyngham had generated. They just needed to find someone to administer it, and that’s how Conyngham managed to contact Rachel Allavena, a professor of canine immunotherapy at the University of Queensland. He traveled ten hours with Rosie and showed up there for his first injection in December. The tumor reduced by half. Researchers from UNSW and the University of Queensland have confirmed that one of Rosie’s tumors had shrunk by half. Allavena explained how even the shine of her coat had also recovered and the dog seemed happier and healthier. Conyngham confirmed it: her dog was losing energy, but six weeks after treatment they were in a park and Rosie jumped the fence to chase a rabbit she had seen. But. Although the story is extraordinary, there is no total and miraculous cure here (at the moment). One of the tumors responded to the vaccine, but another larger one did not. Additionally there have been no controlled trials or sample size beyond one animal or long-term data. Conyngham himself commented how “I have no illusions that this is a cure, but I do believe that this treatment has bought Rosie significantly more time and quality of life.” And Conyngham is no ordinary. It is also important to note that Conyngham had a very special profile: his 17 years of experience in data science and machine learning (machine learning) were crucial for his research to move forward. His technical knowledge allowed AI to enter a field he didn’t know but could understand, and the chatbot and other tools accelerated the process. But those who finally made it possible were immunologists, RNA engineers and the veterinary oncologists who participated in the process. Does this work for other cases? Smith asked a logical question after this singular success. “Why aren’t we rolling this out for all humans with cancer?” The short answer is clear: clinical trials take years, cost hundreds of millions of dollars, and require clear evidence that in this case is simply null. One of his colleagues, David Thomas, is already working on similar treatments of mRNA for human patients, and believes that there is something revolutionary here: “what is striking is the idea of ​​citizen science where someone from the street with a technical profile can use their skills in the scientific process.” The second vaccine is already underway. What this process has shown is that it is possible to dramatically compress the time between the idea and the experimental treatment. Thordarson noted that what Conyngham did—generating an mRNA formula without biology training—demonstrates that AI is helping to democratize this process. In fact, the work is not over: UNSW is already working on the genetic sequencing of the tumor that did not respond to treatment and the objective is to design a second vaccine aimed precisely at treating said tumor. Image | Ed Oswalt In Xataka | What the AI ​​pioneers awarded today with the Nobel Prize say now about AI and its risks

We have been wondering for decades if being vegetarian prevents cancer. We already have a very clear answer

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There is a endless diets in different parts of the world, conditioned largely by local society and culture, such as in Spain, where the Mediterranean dietwhich is varied. But the focus of the debate is on what is the best diet to maintain good health in the long term. And here the vegetarian diet has a lot to say. Giving answers. For years, we have known that reducing our consumption of processed meat is beneficial for our health, but a new macro study led by the University of Oxford has put compelling data on the table about how dietary choice directly impacts the risk of developing different types of cancer. The work published in the magazine British Journal of Cancer is consolidated as the further analysis performed to date on this topic. And it is no wonder, since researchers have been able to analyze the histories of 1.8 million women and men who participated in nine prospective studies across three continents. A shield. Until now, previous studies they were already pointing that vegetarians had a lower oncological risk, but there was not the necessary statistical power to refine the data and make this categorical statement. But this study has come to change this, since researchers reveal that vegetarians have a significantly lower risk of suffering from five types of cancer compared to people who eat meat regularly. Results. Obviously, there are many other factors that influence this matter such as weight or lifestyle, but even adjusting the data, a clear result has been seen, which is summarized in the following risk reductions: 31% lower risk of suffering from multiple myeloma. 28% lower risk of kidney cancer. 21% lower risk of pancreatic cancer. 12% lower risk of pancreatic cancer. 9% lower risk of breast cancer. But the curious thing about these data is that for ten other types of cancer studied, such as lung cancer in non-smokers, science has not found a significant difference. And this opens the door to seeing why this diet is so specific for specific cancers. The small print. Not everything is so positive with this diet, since the study has shown that vegetarians have almost double the risk of developing esophageal cancer compared to people who eat meat in their diet. Because? According to researchers, the benefits of a vegetarian diet in cancer are explained by the greater intake of fruits, vegetables, fiber and the absence of processed meats. But the fact that they have a higher risk of having esophageal cancer is related to the nutritional deficiencies that vegetarians may have. And the lack of certain exclusive or more present nutrients in foods of animal origin could be weakening the natural defenses of this tissue. The rest of the diets. In addition to the war that may exist between meat and vegetables, researchers wanted to go further to look at the rest of the diet. In this case, the pescetarianswho do not consume meat, but do consume fish and seafood, had a lower risk of developing breast, kidney and colon cancer. But when we talk about vegansis where there are certain important nuances, since it has been seen that they have a higher risk of suffering from colorectal cancer. However, the researchers themselves point out that there are still not enough statistical cases to accurately evaluate the impact of veganism on rarer cancers. The recommendations. Given this study, everything that had been done in oncology is maintained, since the norm is to prioritize whole grains, legumes, fruits and vegetables in the diet, limiting the consumption of red and processed meats. Although logically always ensuring that all nutritional needs are met and following medical advice. Images | amin ramezani In Xataka | Having a beer or a wine at 65 seems like a harmless indulgence. We have more and more evidence to the contrary.

why the next great revolution against cancer is to make it chronic

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If we ask someone what the goal of cancer medicine is, the answer is almost automatic: cure itmake it disappear or win the war against this devastating disease. However, in molecular biology laboratories and advanced oncology consultations, the verb is changing, since we no longer speak of “eradicating” at all costs, but to contain. An idea that may be quite shocking, but which is proposed as the future of medicine. The idea. Douglas Hanahan, one of the most influential figures in modern biology and one of the great responsible of the hallmarks of cancerwhich are the hallmarks that define a tumor, has put this idea on the table. In this case, it points to a concept that clashes with our intuition, but fits with scientific data: cancer without disease. The idea is provocative, since it suggests that histologically malignant tumors are possible living off of us without killing us or affecting our quality of life. The objective is no longer the total elimination of the enemy and becomes something more pragmatic: keeping it under biological and clinical control so that the patient dies with the cancer, but not from the cancer. There is no cure. In a recent interview and in your updates of the Hallmarks of Cancer 2022, Hanahan insists that the complexity of cancer makes a universal cure unlikely. Instead, it proposes to understand what specific capacities sustain the tumor, such as evasion of the immune system, inflammation, replicative immortality… to selectively block them. In this way, it is not about destroying the entire tissue, but about converting a lethal process into an indolent one. This is what Hanahan calls “adaptive resistance”, since we assume that the tumor will try to look for new escape routes, and we will change the therapeutic strategy to block them, maintaining the tumor ecosystem within safety margins. It already happens. All of this is not a futuristic theory, but rather it is already happening on two very different fronts: the tumors that we decide not to touch and the aggressive tumors that we have learned to stop. Not trying is sometimes the best. The most literal example of “cancer without disease” is found in the prostate and thyroid. Here, diagnostic technology has advanced so much that we detect tumors that, biologically, would never have caused problems. In the case of prostate canceralmost half of low-risk tumors now enter active surveillance protocols. In this way, instead of operating or radiating (with the risk of impotence and incontinence that entails), doctors begin to monitor the mass. And the data, after 20 years of follow-up in large groups of people, are quite clear: cancer-specific mortality in these well-selected groups is less than 1%. In the clinic. With all this, the idea is that it is better to live with a controlled cancer than to pay the physical price of curing it, although logically, if it goes too far out of containment, the most correct thing is to try to eradicate it with the tools we have. In the case of papillary thyroid cancer We also have this same situation, since overdiagnosis has led to stopping aggressive surgery in favor of observing tumors that the body keeps at bay on its own. The new chronicity. Where the paradigm changes most dramatically is in advanced or metastatic cancer. Twenty years ago, a diagnosis of stage IV lung cancer or metastatic melanoma was almost invariably a short-term terminal sentence. Today, thanks to immunotherapy and targeted therapies, a new category of patient has been born: the “treatable but not curable.” With this strategy there are already different organizations, like the British NCRIwhich describe growing cohorts of patients living for years with the disease. In this case they have metastases, but they live a normal life with their jobs and trips while receiving chronic or intermittent treatments to contain the disease. But without staying on the road. Changing the rules. This new paradigm within oncology has forced changing the rules of the game in clinical trialssince the aim is no longer just for the tumor to disappear, but for prolonged stabilization. With regard to toxicity, the logic of “maximum tolerated dose” in chemotherapy (give medication until the patient can tolerate it) does not work if you are going to treat the patient for five years, since their quality of life with very aggressive chemotherapy will decrease each time. Right now, quality of life and low toxicity are prioritized with ‘milder’ medications to allow long-term treatment without major side effects. This is why cancer is beginning to resemble, in its management, diabetes or HIV: a chronic condition that requires lifelong medication, but that does not necessarily dictate the date of your death. Psychological problems. Logically, this model of ‘chronic cancer’ has its shadows. Medical literature warns, for example, that living with “dormant” or controlled cancer places an enormous mental burden on patients. Studies on active surveillance show that, for some patients, the anxiety of having a “ticking time bomb” inside worsens their quality of life more than the surgery itself. And each review consultation can mean a world to know if it has gone more or less. And more problems. In addition to this, you must know that not all of these diseases can become chronic, such as glioblastoma or pancreatic cancer, which continue to have an aggressive biology that, today, escapes this lazy control. But also, turning cancer into chronic is great news for the patient, but a titanic challenge for public health, since it implies treating more people, for more years, with very high-cost biological drugs. The summary. Hanahan’s “cancer without disease” is not giving up. It is accepting that, if we cannot eliminate the enemy, victory lies in keeping it at bay long enough for life to continue its course and even allow science to continue advancing. As mortality statistics suggest: more and more people are dying with cancer, but fewer people of cancer. And in that nuance lies an entire medical revolution. Images | National Cancer … Read more

Working in a nuclear power plant is not the best way to avoid cancer. Now it turns out that its waste also serves to cure it

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If there is a terrifying and mainstream disease, it is cancer: after all, according to the WHOone in five people will develop it at some point in their life. Although in some cases the risk factors vary depending on the type of cancer, working in a nuclear power plant poses some riskas long as there is greater exposure to ionizing radiation, even if there are no accidents or more intense exposure through maintenance work. Paradoxically, the activity of nuclear power plants, which can cause cancer, also serves to generate the basis of the medicine to cure it. And we are not talking about a potentially distant study, but rather something that can already be materialized. In fact, the United Kingdom has already taken a step forward to transform some of its radioactive waste into anti-cancer medication. The world’s first lead-212 radiopharmaceutical ecosystem. Because in the UK they have closed an agreement between the public body Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and the biotechnology company Bicycle Therapeutics for which the latter will have 400 tons of reprocessed uranium to extract the valuable (for the medical industry) lead – 212 for 15 years. Behind Bicycle is Sir Greg Winter, co-founder of the company and winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2018. This will provide them with the infrastructure to create the world’s first end-to-end lead-212 radiopharmaceutical ecosystem, from discovery to commercial supply. So explains it Mike Hannay, Chief Product and Supply Chain Officer at Bicycle Therapeutics. The benefits of lead – 212. Lead – 212 is an isotope used in therapeutic contexts thanks to its particular decay properties, so that it emits both alpha and beta particles. While the former provide high-energy, short-range cytotoxicity, the latter have a more extended range, targeting micro-metastasis. In a simplified way, this medically applicable isotope is essential for precision treatments against tumors resistant to other therapies. Thus, it carries radiation and acts directly on cancer cells to destroy tumors, minimizing the damage to the surrounding healthy tissue. This type of technique offers promising results in prostate cancers and neuroendocrine tumors of organs such as the intestine or pancreas. Extracting lead-212 is an arduous task. Converting the waste from nuclear power plants into cancer treatments seems like a fantastic idea for two reasons: because of the cure for cancer itself and the problem of dealing with radioactive waste, one of the great challenges faced by these energy industries, which have also explored other avenues such as take advantage of the remaining energy. But getting here has not been easy: the extraction process of this isotope has been carried out by the United Kingdom National Nuclear Laboratory (UKNNL) with a complex chemical process that requires the isolation of scandalously small quantities of the precursor material from the used nuclear fuel. Thus, first the Thorium-228 is extracted from the reprocessed uranium to later process it into Radium-224. It is then loaded into a lead-212 generator that has been custom-made for Bicycle Therapeutics’ needs by US company SpectronRx. This is a continuous regeneration, producing enough lead-212 to deliver tens of thousands of doses of precision therapy per year. The laboratory explains that the critical part is in the beginning: “The initial precursor material extracted is comparable to finding a single drop of water in an Olympic swimming pool.” From that minute amount, an even smaller fraction of lead-212 is separated. First discover the universe, then cure cancer. In addition to this unexpected use of nuclear power plant waste, in recent weeks a group of researchers from the University of York have evidenced in a study that the intense radiation captured in the beam absorbers of particle accelerators could be reused to produce materials used in cancer therapies. Those particle accelerators They are used, among other things, in experiments to discover the matter of which the universe is composed. In Xataka | The rarest element on Earth aims to cure cancer. And Europe is already accelerating its production In Xataka | We have been believing that bacteria are a weapon against tumors for 150 years. And finally we have discovered how Cover | Jakub Zerdzicki and Ivan S

The rarest element on Earth aims to cure cancer. And Europe is already accelerating its production

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In the fight against cancer there are many ‘weapons’ that we have at our disposalsuch as chemotherapy or radiotherapy. The problem is that these are assimilated like bombing a city to destroy a single house: it is achieved, but with a lot of collateral damage. But this can be solved if We attack only what interests usin this case a tumor cell, and science points to one of the rarest elements on the planet as a candidate to achieve this. Where are we now. The goal of science is to find the most specific therapies possible so that they attack a tumor cell and not a healthy cell with the aim of reducing the adverse effects of the treatment and also being more effective. For this there are different options such as immunotherapy or the use of very specific antibodies, but there is still a long way to go. A particle. He astatinewhose name comes from the Greek astats (“unstable”), lives up to its name. It is the rarest natural element on Earth and disappears almost as soon as it is formed and that is very interesting to us. Especially a ‘version’ of this element which is At-211 which has a half-life of only 7.2 hours. But this instability is part of its magic. At-211 is what Texas A&M scientists call a “Goldilocks” isotope: perfect for the job. Its advantages. Currently, heto traditional radiation used in cancer treatments have a great impact on the body when traveling over long distances. But At-211 emits alpha particles, which is a heavy, slow-moving helium nucleus, which when emitted releases an enormous amount of energy, but can only travel a tiny distance, just the thickness of a few cells. This is crucial. Targeted Alpha Therapy involves “gluing” an atom of At-211 to a molecule (such as an antibody) designed to specifically seek out and bind to cancer cells. At-211 travels through the body, ignoring healthy cells, and when it finds its target, it anchors to the tumor and releases its alpha particle. The result is a localized and devastating explosion of energy, which irreversibly destroys the DNA of the cancer cell. But since the particle cannot travel any further, the healthy cell next to it will not be affected, making this an almost perfect killer. Your problem. At first glance everything seems great, but… Why don’t we use it? The answer lies in its availability, since it is impossible to mine astatine, since with a life of 7.2 hours the clock is running against it. The only way to obtain it is to create it artificially in a cyclotron, a particle accelerator. The process basically involves firing a beam of alpha particles at a Bismuth-209 target. Now the advance that has been achieved is to create a fully automated system to produce and ship the AT-211 as quickly as possible so that it can be used. In Europe. With this advance, which has been made in Texas, processing time is reduced and the safety of technicians who do not have to handle this substance increases. And while Texas A&M resolves supply in the US, Europe is making a move. The project Accelerate.EUfunded by the European Union, was launched at the end of 2024 with a clear objective: to create a robust and sustainable manufacturing and treatment infrastructure for At-211 throughout Europe. The project focuses on especially difficult-to-treat cancers, such as pancreas, breast and brain tumors (glioblastomas), demonstrating that this therapy is a global strategic priority. The future therefore lies in the possibility of using one isotope to illuminate the tumor and then using another to kill it, inaugurating authentic personalized nuclear medicine. Images | freepik In Xataka | The most unexpected treatment against cancer is LED light, and it is giving good results

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