Early cancer detection

Despite the vast resources aimed at finding ways to detect the disease early, more needs to be done.

Eliminating disparities in routine examinations will require outreach, availability and cultural consideration.

Oncologists are grappling with predicting—and mitigating—the effects of the pandemic.

Colorectal cancer rates in younger adults are climbing. The race is on to figure out why.

What will it take to improve cancer diagnosis such that oncologists have the best chance of curing the disease?

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is an Epstein–Barr virus (EBV)-associated malignancy endemic to southern China, southeast Asia and north Africa. The authors of this Review present a comprehensive overview of advances from the past three decades on the pathogenic role of EBV, and the genomic, epigenomic and immune landscape of NPC, which have led to the development of new biomarkers, therapeutic targets and improved treatment approaches for patients with NPC.

Liquid biopsy assays have the potential to revolutionize the diagnosis and management of cancer, and rapid progress is being made in the clinical translation of such assays. This Perspective outlines notable advances in the use of liquid biopsy technologies in the management of solid tumours, as well as future research avenues, clinical trial methodologies and implementation logistics for the eventual integration of liquid biopsy into the clinical workflow.

Liquid biopsies enable non-invasive, longitudinal analysis of tumour components (including circulating tumour cells and circulating tumour DNA) in bodily fluids such as blood. However, their analytical and clinical validity must be rigorously demonstrated before they are adopted for precision oncology.

Synthetic biomarkers are an emerging class of diagnostics that amplify disease signals for sensitive and specific detection of early-stage cancers. This Review discusses the rationale and design of biofluid-based synthetic biomarkers as well as translational challenges and future directions.

Biological processes can be monitored in real time using induced volatolomics, whereby metabolism of an exogenous probe affords volatiles diagnostic of healthy functioning or pathogens.

Pancreatic cancer is typically diagnosed at a late stage and early detection is a priority. This Review focuses on precancerous lesions of the pancreas, describing their pathological and molecular features and highlighting different DNA-based molecular approaches for early detection and their clinical utility.

This Consensus Statement discusses the management of asymptomatic individuals with a germline mutation in one of the succinate dehydrogenase (SDHx) genes (SDHA, SDHB, SDHC and SDHD), which encode the four subunits of the SDH enzyme. These individuals are at increased risk of phaeochromocytoma and/or paraganglioma.

Alterations of RET kinase have been found in diverse thyroid cancer subtypes. This Review describes the RET mutations and gene fusions that can occur in thyroid cancer and highlights specific RET kinase inhibitors that are in clinical and preclinical use.