At the 2024 American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting, the world’s largest cancer conference, doctors, scientists and researchers shared new findings on ways to tackle the disease.
The event in Chicago, attended by about 44,000 health professionals, featured more than 200 sessions…

The world’s first personalised mRNA cancer vaccine for melanoma halves the risk of patients dying or the disease returning, according to trial results doctors described as “extremely impressive”… Patients who received the vaccine after having a stage 3 or 4 melanoma removed had a 49% lower risk of dying or the disease recurring after three years, data presented at the conference showed.

Delegates were briefed about two new tests aimed at providing an early warning sign for two of the world’s most common cancers.

The first, for prostate cancer, involves a DNA sample collected with a simple spit test. Trial results suggest it is more accurate than standard tests. It works by looking for genetic signals in the saliva that are linked to prostate cancer. The second, a blood test, predicts the risk of breast cancer returning three years before tumours show up on scans. The breakthrough could help more women beat the disease permanently.

60% of patients diagnosed with advanced forms of lung cancer who took lorlatinib were still alive five years later with no progression in their disease, data presented at the conference showed. The rate was 8% in patients treated with a standard drug, the trial found.

Doctors hailed the trial results as “off the chart”.

Full article (950 words with lots o links): https://www.theguardian.com/science/article/2024/jun/07/what-are-off-the-charts-breakthroughs-cancer-treatments.

And more good news from Fix the News:

Fewer children are dying from air pollution: The State of Global Air (SoGA) 2024 report has recorded a 53% drop in air pollution deaths between 2000 and 2021 for the world’s population of children under five. Deaths from household air pollution have decreased by 36%… 14.7 million fewer people go hungry in Brazil: A new UN report shows that severe food insecurity has fallen by a colossal 85% in just one year, from 8% in 2022 to 1.2% in 2023… China’s carbon dioxide emissions fell by 1% in the second quarter of 2024, the first quarterly fall since COVID-19, and the first ever structural decline due to growth in renewables. Electricity generation from wind and solar grew by 171 TWh in the first half of the year, and the increase in the number of EVs on China’s roads cut demand for transport fuels by approximately 4%.

Parkinson’s Disease killed my father. It affects around six million people globally, and there is currently no cure.

A small new trial published in the journal Nature Medicine describes what would be two firsts for Parkinson’s disease, if they pan out: a diagnostic test and a potential immune-based treatment that works similarly to a vaccine. The research is still early, but researchers are excited by the prospect of advances for a disease that lacks good diagnostics and treatments….

The Florida-based biotech company Vaxxinity developed a vaccine, or what it calls an active immune medicine, to train the immune system to attack only abnormal versions of the protein—which are improperly folded—and not the regular forms. This would essentially help people’s bodies treat themselves….

The new diagnostic test for Parkinson’s, which was initially developed by researchers at the University of Texas and later Amprion, uses samples of cerebrospinal fluid to measure a person’s levels of abnormal alpha synuclein… Alpha synuclein has been tricky to measure in the body for several reasons, says Frasier. While everyone has the protein, abnormal forms of it occur in relatively small amounts, so they’re harder to detect via imaging. This type of alpha synuclein also tends to clump inside cells rather than outside of them, making it even harder to see….

The Vaxxinity vaccine trial included 20 people with Parkinson’s. It was just designed to test the safety of the approach, so the study only provided hints about the treatment’s effectiveness. Everyone received three shots over nearly a year; some contained the treatment at different doses, and some contained a placebo. Overall, people receiving the vaccine generated more antibodies against the abnormal alpha synuclein protein than those vaccinated with placebo…. Antibodies started to ramp up about four months after the vaccinations began.

1,075 words: https://time.com/6883054/parkinsons-test-vaccine-study-vaxxinity/.

And more good news from FutureCrunch (now Fix the News):

More good news you didn’t hear about

The number of active mobile money accounts globally grew from 13 million in 2010 to more than 640 million in 2023. Liberia’s new war crimes court could bring long-overdue justice to civil war victims. Mexico’s president-elect upgrades the national science council and puts a woman at its helm. The Mekong Malaria Elimination programme reports an astonishing 43% decrease in malaria cases in just one year. US traffic deaths are declining, even as people drive more. In Cambodia, the government’s Nutrition Project is enhancing access to quality health and nutrition services, and a new Water Security Project will improve supply and reliability for over 113,000 people. A UNICEF report reveals a 13% drop in children facing severe food poverty in Nigeria.