Will Cancer Soon Be Defeated?

There is a decisive shift in how cancer may soon be confronted and, hopefully, defeated.

Three British researchers are leading breakthroughs that could redefine how cancer is prevented, detected and treated -- from pre-cancer vaccines to precision brain tumour therapies and ultra-sensitive blood tests.

LungVax, the first of these preventive vaccines, is set to enter human trials in 2026; the Cambridge-led 5G platform study continues to enrol patients for personalised brain tumour treatment; and liquid-biopsy technologies developed in Manchester are steadily moving into clinical practice, with multiple FDA-approved tests already available.

Together, these efforts signal a decisive shift in how cancer may soon be confronted and, hopefully, defeated.

Vaccines to stop cancer before it starts

According to a report in The Sunday Times newspaper, Professor Sarah Blagden at the University of Oxford is creating vaccines that teach the immune system to destroy abnormal cells before they turn cancerous.

Building on the success of vaccines that prevent HPV- and Hepatitis B-related cancers, her new vaccine, called LungVax, adapts the same technology used in the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.

It is expected to begin testing on human volunteers next year.

RNA cancer vaccines have recently shown strong clinical promise across difficult tumour types, leading experts to regard them as a major new frontier in oncology.

Dr Blagden aims to strip cancer cells of the 'invisibility cloak' that keeps them hidden from the immune system, ultimately enabling a multi-cancer preventive vaccine within a decade.

Precision medicine for aggressive brain tumours

In Cambridge, neurosurgeon Richard Mair is reshaping treatment for glioblastoma -- an extremely aggressive but commonly found tumour in adults that is managed with surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy with limited effectiveness.

New approaches, including dual-target CAR-T therapy (a treatment in which a patient's own immune cells are re-engineered to hunt down and kill cancer cells) and combinations of tumour-treating fields with immunotherapy, have recently produced dramatic tumour regressions and extended survival in early studies.

Dr Mair co-leads the 5G platform study, which uses artificial intelligence to analyse a patient's entire tumour genome and match mutations to targeted drugs within three weeks.

Since glioblastomas infiltrate the brain with crab-like 'tendrils', full surgical removal is impossible; personalised therapies may therefore be essential to achieving long-term control.

He also maintains an extensive brain-tissue bank to identify tumour patterns that single cases cannot reveal with the hope of converting a few extra months of life into years -- or cures.

Blood tests that detect cancer before symptoms

At Manchester's CRUK National Biomarker Centre, Professor Caroline Dive is developing liquid biopsy blood tests capable of detecting cancer long before it appears on scans or causes symptoms.

Studies show some tests can identify 50 cancer types with low false-positive rates while new RNA-based assays have detected early colorectal cancer with 95 per cent accuracy -- far surpassing current non-invasive methods.

Dr Dive's team analyses minute fragments of tumour DNA circulating in the bloodstream to determine whether cancer is present, its likely location and how it is evolving. She compares early detection to 'finding a grain of sand on a beach', stressing that accuracy is vital: False positives cause unnecessary fear, while false negatives can be dangerous.

Several liquid-biopsy tests already have FDA approval for monitoring lung and breast cancers. The UK's centralised NHS provides a significant advantage, making access to large clinical datasets far easier than in more fragmented health systems.

The three scientists represent a broader global acceleration in cancer innovation. More than 120 RNA cancer vaccine trials are currently under way, involving AI-designed antigens and next-generation nanoparticle delivery systems.

But researchers stress that despite remarkable progress, cancer remains complex. Many breakthroughs fail in clinical trials and personalised mRNA vaccines can cost more than $100,000, raising questions of accessibility.

Even so, the convergence of preventive vaccines, precision therapies, immunotherapies and early-detection technologies suggests a genuine turning point. The rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines demonstrated what coordinated scientific effort can achieve. Many believe cancer research is now entering a similarly pivotal period.

Dr Blagden, Dr Mair and Dr Dive exemplify the steady, collaborative persistence required for major medical advances. Their work offers patients something increasingly substantial -- hope grounded in rigorous science.