The good news about CANCER

There are some amazing developments in the detection and treatment of this disease. Here's what you need to know

- TANYA PEAREY

Things have never looked so promising in the fight against cancer – from advances in spotting and treating it, to what science shows us is best to lower our risk of getting it.

There are around 167,000 deaths from cancer a year in the UK*, with 40% of new cases diagnosed at an early stage** (by Stages 1 or 2), improving the chances of successful treatment. The NHS has set targets that by 2028, 75% of cancers will be diagnosed by Stages 1 and 2 of the disease, and that an extra 55,000 people per year will survive for at least five years after diagnosis.

One diagnostic tool that could contribute is a test that can spot 50 cancer types before symptoms appear. The Galleri test, produced by the US healthcare company Grail, identifies tiny traces of DNA shed into the bloodstream by tumours - and if an ongoing clinical trial across England proves successful, it could be offered routinely on the NHS.

TREATING CANCER

Cutting-edge treatments will help double life expectancy for patients with advanced cancer within the next decade, say the experts. The new therapies target systems within the body that allow cancer cells to thrive, and in disrupting them, force the cancer to go 'extinct', according to specialists at the Institute of Cancer Research and the Royal Marsden cancer hospital.

These include the new tumour-shrinking drug for breast cancer, capivasertib. It works by blocking the activity of a protein molecule called AKT, which drives cancer growth. Researchers predict that the drug could become the standard treatment for patients with the most common type of breast cancer, when it doesn't respond to other therapies, and could help around 8,000 people a year.