Cancers

Non-small-cell lung cancer is the biggest cancer killer, and the proving ground for precision medicine: a dozen targetable mutations, immunotherapy for the rest, and ADCs and bispecifics arriving now.

HR-positive breast cancer is the most common breast cancer, driven by oestrogen. It was treated for years with hormone-blocking pills, now joined by CDK4/6 inhibitors, PI3K-pathway drugs, degraders, and ADCs.

The cancer where screening works best and where immunotherapy can make some tumours disappear entirely, yet most metastatic disease still depends on chemotherapy.

Prostate cancer is the home of theranostics: PSMA PET finds it, PSMA radioligands treat it. Hormonal therapy remains the foundation, with PARP and AKT inhibitors added by genotype.

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is an aggressive but curable lymphoma. CAR-T cures about 40% of relapsed patients, and off-the-shelf bispecifics are now approved.

Bladder cancer went from 40 years of cisplatin to an ADC-immunotherapy combination that nearly doubled survival, and in 2026 the first blood-test-guided drug approval.

Multiple myeloma is a plasma-cell cancer with more new drug classes than any other: proteasome inhibitors, IMiDs, CD38 antibodies, BCMA CAR-T, bispecifics, and an ADC.

Pancreatic cancer is the deadliest common cancer. Almost every tumour carries a KRAS mutation, and for the first time drugs against it are in pivotal trials.

Acute myeloid leukaemia is an aggressive blood cancer where, after 40 years of the same chemotherapy, a wave of targeted drugs (FLT3, IDH, BCL-2, menin) arrived.

A cancer with three new targets in five years: Claudin 18.2, FGFR2b, and HER2 with new ADCs, plus immunotherapy in first line.

The cancer that proved immunotherapy works: half of advanced patients now live 10 years. Also the first with an approved TIL therapy, an oncolytic virus, and a positive phase 3 personalised vaccine.

Usually found late. PARP inhibitors transformed maintenance therapy, and ADCs against folate receptor and CDH6 are arriving for platinum-resistant disease.

Sarcomas are dozens of rare cancers of bone and connective tissue. GIST was the first solid tumour cured-in-practice by a targeted pill; synovial sarcoma got the first TCR-T therapy.

A breast cancer that lacks the three receptors (oestrogen, progesterone, HER2) that other breast cancers can be treated through. It was the hardest subtype for decades; since 2020 immunotherapy and ADCs have changed that.

HER2-positive breast cancer was once the most aggressive subtype and is now one of the most treatable, thanks to trastuzumab and, more recently, Enhertu.

Kidney cancer is where anti-angiogenic drugs and immunotherapy came together, and where a Nobel-winning oxygen-sensing pathway yielded a drug, belzutifan.

Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia is the childhood cancer success story, and was the first disease treated with CAR-T and with a T-cell engager.

A slow leukaemia that no longer needs chemotherapy: BTK inhibitors and venetoclax control it for years, often in fixed-duration courses.

The gynaecological cancer where immunotherapy has had the biggest impact, guided by molecular classification.

Follicular lymphoma is the most common slow-growing lymphoma. Most people live many years with it, treated only when it causes problems; it can be controlled repeatedly but rarely cured, and a minority transform into an aggressive lymphoma.

Cancers of the mouth and throat, increasingly caused by HPV. Immunotherapy is first line for advanced disease and now used before surgery.

Liver cancer almost always grows in a liver already damaged by hepatitis, alcohol or fatty liver disease. It is one of the most preventable cancers, and since 2020 immunotherapy combinations have roughly doubled how long people with advanced disease live.

A family of usually slow-growing tumours that start in hormone-producing cells of the gut, pancreas and lungs. They pioneered the idea of using the same molecule to see a tumour on a scan and then to treat it with radiation.

Oesophageal cancer is really two diseases sharing one organ: squamous cell carcinoma, which dominates in Asia, and adenocarcinoma, which dominates in the West and is treated like gastric cancer. Immunotherapy is now standard, and the bispecific ADC iza-bren posted a positive phase 3 in the squamous type in 2026.

A fast-growing lung cancer that responds to chemotherapy then relapses quickly. After 30 years without progress, T-cell engagers and ADCs are finally moving the needle.

Cholangiocarcinoma is cancer of the bile ducts or gallbladder. It is rare and often found late, but it turned out to carry more targetable mutations than almost any other gastrointestinal cancer, and immunotherapy now adds to chemotherapy from the first treatment.

An uncommon B-cell lymphoma driven by cyclin D1 that used to behave badly in almost everyone. BTK inhibitors, CAR-T and now BCL2 drugs have changed it from chemotherapy-plus-transplant to targeted combinations.

Salivary gland cancers are a family of over 20 rare cancers, each with its own behaviour and often its own gene fusion. Surgery and radiation treat most; drug therapy is now chosen by the specific subtype, from anti-HER2 or anti-androgen drugs to NTRK inhibitors.

Peripheral T-cell lymphomas are lymphomas of T cells rather than B cells. They are rarer, more varied and, apart from a few subtypes, harder to treat than B-cell lymphomas; several new drugs help only defined subtypes.

A cancer that could be eliminated by HPV vaccination and screening. For those who develop it, immunotherapy and a tissue-factor ADC have improved survival.

Glioblastoma is the most lethal brain tumour, barely improved since 2005. Low-grade IDH-mutant gliomas, by contrast, got their first targeted drug in 2024.

Ewing sarcoma is a bone and soft-tissue cancer of teenagers driven by a single fusion gene, EWSR1-FLI1. Intensive chemotherapy with surgery or radiation cures most localised cases; spread disease and relapse remain very hard, and the fusion protein itself has resisted drug design.

Medulloblastoma is the most common malignant childhood brain tumour, arising in the cerebellum. Surgery, radiation to the whole brain and spine, and chemotherapy cure about 70%, at a heavy cost to thinking and growth; treatment is now being tailored to four molecular subgroups so that the low-risk children get less.

Osteosarcoma is the most common bone cancer, mostly in teenagers. Chemotherapy plus surgery cures about two-thirds when it has not spread, but survival has not improved in 30 years and no new drug has worked in a large trial.

Thymoma and thymic carcinoma are rare tumours of the thymus gland in the chest. Thymomas grow slowly, often cause autoimmune diseases such as myasthenia gravis, and are usually cured by surgery; thymic carcinomas behave like other aggressive cancers and have few effective drugs.

A blood-vessel cancer caused by a herpesvirus, made famous by the AIDS epidemic. In people with HIV, antiretroviral therapy alone often shrinks it; chemotherapy such as liposomal doxorubicin or paclitaxel treats advanced disease, and it remains a major cancer in Africa.

Neuroblastoma is a childhood nerve-cell cancer where anti-GD2 antibodies and, recently, GD2 CAR-T have improved survival in high-risk disease.

A childhood soft-tissue cancer of muscle-like cells found anywhere from the eye socket to the bladder. Most children are cured with chemotherapy, surgery and radiation, and a fusion gene (PAX-FOXO1) now decides how intensively to treat.

Thyroid cancer is usually curable with surgery and radioactive iodine, the original theranostic. Rare aggressive forms respond to RET and BRAF inhibitors.

A slow lymphoma that makes an abnormal IgM antibody, causing thick blood, anaemia and nerve damage. Nearly all cases share one mutation (MYD88 L265P), and BTK inhibitors control it for years.

Bone-marrow disorders where blood cells are made badly and too few reach the blood; a third progress to acute leukaemia. Treatment ranges from transfusions and growth factors to hypomethylating drugs and, for the fit, transplant.

Slow-growing blood cancers in which the marrow makes too many red cells, platelets or scar tissue. Almost all carry a mutation in JAK2, CALR or MPL. Treatment aims at preventing clots, controlling symptoms and, in myelofibrosis, shrinking the spleen.

A cancer at the back of the nose caused largely by the Epstein-Barr virus and common in southern China and Southeast Asia. Radiation cures most early cases; adding chemotherapy and, recently, PD-1 immunotherapy has improved outcomes in advanced disease, and a blood test for viral DNA can detect it early.

Testicular germ cell tumours are the most curable adult solid cancer. Cisplatin-based chemotherapy cures the large majority of even widely spread disease; today's research is about giving less treatment to the many while rescuing the few who relapse.

An HPV-caused cancer of the anal canal that is usually cured without surgery by combined chemotherapy and radiation. Prevention (HPV vaccination, screening of high-risk groups) and immunotherapy for advanced disease are the new fronts.

Chronic myeloid leukaemia is a blood cancer driven by a single fused gene, BCR-ABL. Imatinib in 2001 turned it from a disease with a median survival of about five years into one most people live with, and many can now stop treatment altogether.

Cancers that grow from placental tissue after a pregnancy. They make a hormone (hCG) that acts as a perfect blood test, and they were the first solid cancer ever cured by chemotherapy. Immunotherapy now rescues the few that resist drugs.

Hodgkin lymphoma is one of the most curable cancers, where the goal is now to cure with less toxicity, using brentuximab and, from 2026, first-line nivolumab.

Adrenocortical carcinoma is a rare, aggressive cancer of the adrenal gland that often over-produces hormones. Surgery is the only cure, mitotane is the one drug specific to it (with real toxicity), and chemotherapy or immunotherapy help only a minority.

Hairy cell leukaemia is a rare, slow B-cell leukaemia with a single defining mutation (BRAF V600E) that is unusually curable: one week of a purine analogue puts most people into remission for years, and BRAF drugs rescue those who relapse.

Merkel cell carcinoma is a rare, fast-growing skin cancer, usually caused by a common virus (Merkel cell polyomavirus) or by sun damage. It was almost untreatable once it spread; PD-1/PD-L1 immunotherapy now gives lasting responses in about half of patients.

An asbestos-caused cancer of the lung lining. Immunotherapy doublets replaced chemotherapy in 2020, and mesothelin CAR-T is under study.

Primary CNS lymphoma is a lymphoma confined to the brain, eyes and spinal fluid. Unlike most brain tumours it is chemo-sensitive: high-dose methotrexate-based treatment cures a substantial minority, and consolidation with a stem-cell transplant has replaced whole-brain radiation for the fit.

An uncommon cancer of the external genitalia with two distinct causes: HPV infection in younger women and chronic skin inflammation in older women. Surgery is the mainstay, and sentinel-node biopsy has made it far less mutilating.

Wilms tumour is a kidney cancer of young children and one of paediatric oncology's success stories: surgery plus a few months of chemotherapy cures about nine in ten. Today's trials aim to give the lowest-risk children almost no chemotherapy while finding the few with aggressive biology.

A very common sun-related skin cancer that is almost always cured by removing it. The small fraction that grows deep or spreads now responds well to PD-1 immunotherapy, which is also given after surgery in high-risk cases.

GIST is a sarcoma of the gut wall driven almost always by a KIT or PDGFRA mutation. It was the proof that a pill can control a solid tumour: imatinib turned a median survival of about a year into one of eight years or more, and the mutation now dictates which drug to use.

A liver cancer of toddlers that is highly curable with cisplatin chemotherapy and surgery, including liver transplant when the tumour cannot be cut out. A recent success was proving that a simple antidote prevents the permanent hearing loss cisplatin causes.

An eye cancer of infants caused by loss of the RB1 gene, the first tumour-suppressor gene ever found. In rich countries almost every child survives and most eyes are saved by chemotherapy delivered through the eye's artery; in poor countries many children still die because it is found too late.

Rare tumours of the appendix that range from slow mucin-producing growths that fill the abdomen (pseudomyxoma peritonei) to aggressive adenocarcinomas. The slow forms are treated by extensive surgery with heated chemotherapy in the abdomen; the fast ones like colon cancer.

Cancer found already spread, where doctors cannot find where it started. Most cases are treated with general-purpose chemotherapy and do poorly; molecular tests to guess the origin or find a drug target are slowly changing that.

A melanoma inside the eye that is biologically unrelated to skin melanoma: different mutations, no response to standard immunotherapy, and a tendency to spread to the liver years later. Tebentafusp is the first drug ever to extend survival in the metastatic disease.

Basal cell carcinoma is the most common cancer of all, caused by sun exposure and almost never fatal. Nearly all are removed surgically; the rare advanced cases are treated with drugs that block the hedgehog signalling pathway, and with immunotherapy if those fail.

A very rare aggressive blood cancer of dendritic-cell precursors that often shows up as bruise-like skin lesions. Two CD123-directed drugs are the first targeted therapies; transplant is still needed for cure.