Prevention is the main strategy against cancer, but when the disease appears the main thing is to detect it as soon as possible to enable its cure, but also to avoid relapse and stop metastasis.
Research will continue to take steps in 2026, delving into the mechanisms of action of cancer, defining the effectiveness of messenger RNA vaccines or bringing innovative therapies to new tumors, among other advances.
Advances against cancer do not appear overnight, they are the result of many years of work in basic research in laboratories and clinical research in which patients participate.
In 2026, the way cancer acts will continue to be delved into in order to be able to tackle it with new strategies. The focus will be on more aggressive and complicated cancers to attack, such as pancreatic cancer, without forgetting those that most affect the population, such as colorectal, breast or prostate cancer, in addition to lung tumors, the one with the highest mortality rate.
And the arrival of cancer in increasingly younger people opens studies to understand the interaction of the genome with unhealthy lifestyle habits, with endocrine disruptors and environmental pollution.
These are some of the advances in cancer that will continue to be talked about in the new year.
- Conjugated antibodies: They consist of a monoclonal antibody that is directed against a specific target of the tumor and carries a load of chemotherapy that is released within the tumor cell, acting as a true Trojan horse. Its use in some metastatic tumors opens new therapeutic avenues in cases resistant to other treatments.
- CART-T and its future arrival in solid tumors: CART-T cell therapy has represented a radical change in hematological tumors (leukemias and lymphomas), where they achieve deep and long-lasting responses. Its mechanism consists of reprogramming the patient’s own T lymphocytes, their defenses, to recognize and destroy tumor cells, which has demonstrated an effectiveness that had not been previously seen in this type of blood cancers that do not respond to other treatments. But its application has not yet reached solid tumors, since the research is in the initial stages.
- Cancer vaccines, such as messenger RNA: Right now, the vast majority of cancer vaccines are in the experimental phase. Those that are used preventively are those that serve to stop some infections that in the long term can cause cancer, such as human papillomavirus or hepatitis B. Among these vaccines in experimentation is the messenger RNA vaccine, which uses the same technology as the vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, which in 2020 caused the COVID pandemic, and which have saved the vast majority of the population from serious illness and death.
Researcher Pedro Berraondo, from the Cima University of Navarra, in statements to EFE, explains that these therapeutic vaccines “teach” the immune system to identify and attack cancer cells, based on neoantigens (specific proteins of that tumor in each patient), which allows the vaccine to be personalized. The application that is advancing the fastest is as an adjuvant after removing a tumor to prevent its recurrence.
Advances will continue in 2026 in these cancer vaccines, with more advanced research in melanoma or pancreas and with trials underway for lung or colon.
How much remains to be known about tumor genomics?
Precision oncology is already implemented in clinical practice. It is about knowing the genomic profile of each tumor to select the most appropriate and individualized treatment for the patient.
For Rebeca Lozano, scientific secretary of the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology (SEOM), “although we have multiple targets, mutations, amplifications, fusions identifiable through sequencing panels, the map is still far from being complete.”
Missing?
- Tumors such as pancreatic cancer or glioblastoma still do not have truly effective targets.
- Sometimes we identify genomic alterations for which there is not yet a drug available.
- Intratumoral heterogeneity continues to be a problem: the same tumor can contain clones with different genomic profiles that determine responses and resistance.
Progress in cancer diagnosis
If cancer is detected in the initial stages, it is easier to combat it because in most cases a cure is achieved when it is localized.
Having more effective and less invasive diagnostic techniques is another challenge and one of them is the liquid biopsy.
“Liquid biopsy is a real clinical tool, whose main use is to guide the prognosis and help in making treatment decisions in cancer patients through the analysis of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA),” indicates the scientific secretary of SEOM.
It is now applied in hormone-dependent or luminal breast cancer, since circulating tumor DNA can anticipate progression before it is visible through imaging tests, allowing treatment to be changed earlier.
But it is also effective in muscle-invasive urothelial carcinoma, where the persistence of ctDNA after surgery helps identify patients at higher risk, who could benefit from treatment with immunotherapy after surgery.
Other lines of research: AI
Advances in cancer in 2026 will continue their course in other fields. One of them is artificial intelligence, which is making it possible to analyze images, clinical and genomic data. It can help detect tumors earlier, better classify tumor subtypes and predict response to treatments.
Steps will also continue to be taken in immunotherapy, drugs that stimulate the patient’s immune system, which has already represented a paradigm shift in tumors with advanced stages, especially in lung or melanoma.
“Immunotherapy is one of the great pillars of the treatment of advanced disease in many tumor types, but its use in earlier phases is changing the course of tumors with a high risk of relapse,” explains Lozano.
The oncologist highlights that advances in cancer by 2026 go beyond science, progress must also be made in the patient’s overall life and quality of life.
The growing number of survivors places rehabilitation, mental health, physical activity and work reintegration at the forefront, in addition to monitoring side effects, such as cardiotoxicity, and cancer in the elderly.
“Treating cancer also involves accompanying the patient throughout the process, minimizing physical and emotional consequences,” concludes Lozano.