How cancer research advances, from better screening to improved vaccines, are saving lives

On World Cancer Day, we look at advances in cancer research, prevention and treatment that bring new hope and are extending or saving lives

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Advances in cancer research, prevention and treatment are extending or saving the lives of millions of patients. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 4:15am, 4 Feb 2025

I lost my best friend at the end of 2023 to an aggressive brain cancer, glioblastoma. Little more than three months after her diagnosis, she was gone.

There were many things I loved about Caroline, who I had known all my life. One of my favourites was her habit of asking, “What’s your happy gossip, then?” It meant “tell me the good news”.

And there is some, with World Cancer Day falling on February 4: we have entered what the non-governmental organisation (NGO) Cancer Research UK is calling the “golden age of cancer research”.

Non-invasive tests and screening aid in early diagnosis

A large study published at the end of 2024 estimates that almost six million deaths from the five most common cancers – breast, cervical, colorectal, lung and prostate cancer – were prevented between 1975 and 2020, largely because of better screening.

We have entered what Cancer Research UK is calling the “golden age of cancer research”. Photo: Shutterstock

The study’s co-lead author Katrina Goddard says eight out of 10 deaths from these cancers that were averted over the past 45 years were thanks to advances in prevention and screening.

Quitting smoking was by far the biggest lifesaver – that prevented an estimated 3.45 million deaths. Advances in mammography saved a significant number of lives, as did human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines in the case of cervical cancer and removal of precancerous polyps in the case of colorectal cancers.

Early diagnosis of cancer is key, says Dr Ashley Cheng Chi-kin, clinical director of oncology at the CUHK Medical Centre in Hong Kong. People are now more conscious of their cancer risk, he adds.

“NGOs, leading experts and professors are advocating low-dose CT (a special kind of X-ray that takes multiple pictures) for screening in people with risk factors. From our clinical experience, more cases are seen earlier. Previously, more than 60 per cent were advanced cases.”