Researchers from the Department of Pathology, School of Clinical Medicine at the LKS Faculty of Medicine of the University of Hong Kong (HKUMed) have made significant advancements in understanding the earliest stages of stomach cancer, a leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide, through two recent innovative studies. With a prevalence rates particularly high in East Asia, including China, this cancer often stems from chronic inflammation caused by Helicobacter pylori infection, which affects approximately 15% of the Hong Kong population. This inflammation can lead to a pre-cancerous stage known as intestinal metaplasia. The innovative studies have uncovered crucial insights into the earliest changes in the stomach that contribute to the development of stomach cancer, laying the foundation for improved prevention and early detection, ultimately saving lives.

Extranodal NK/T-cell lymphoma (ENKTL) is an aggressive type of blood cancer that disproportionately affects Asian populations, with limited treatment options and a poor prognosis.

A multinational research team from South Korea and Singapore has published positive results of a new combination therapy to treat ENKTL, validating genomic biomarkers and a prognostic model developed by researchers at the National Cancer Centre Singapore.

In a paper published in MedComm, an international team of scientists provided an overview of the advancements in the diagnostics and therapeutics of cancer of unknown primary (CUP) over the past 50 years. Looking ahead, they propose optimizing diagnostic modalities and exploring further-line treatment regimens as two focus areas for future studies on CUP.

A team from the Universitat Jaume I in Castelló, led by researcher Eva Falomir Ventura, coordinator of the Chemistry for Medicine (JMC) group, has achieved promising results in testing molecules previously designed and synthesised by the same group. These molecules have the potential to block cancer cell growth by altering key microenvironment properties, such as immunity, inflammation, and the formation of new blood vessels.

With the advent of artificial intelligence (AI), predictive medicine is becoming an important part of healthcare, especially in cancer treatment. Predictive medicine uses algorithms and data to help doctors understand how a cancer might continue to grow or react to specific drugs—making it easier to target precision treatment for individual patients. Now, researchers at the Institute for Genome Sciences at the University of Maryland School of Medicine set a foundation in two commentaries out this week for going beyond AI to find the best treatments for patients, as well as ethically data sharing to promote reproducible science.