Cancer treatment has evolved dramatically in the first quarter of this century, but there is still much more to do to improve the lives of people with cancer.
At Dana-Farber, research continues in the clinic and in the lab in efforts to continue to bring advancements in treatment and prevention for patients. That research has resulted in exciting breakthroughs — from cancer vaccines to targeted therapies — that are giving us hope that in the coming years, we’ll see more dramatic advancements for patients here and around the world.
Here’s what’s giving us hope in 2026.
A conceptual illustration of a CAR T cell attacking a cancer cell.
Breakthrough targeted therapies
Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and pancreatic cancer have for a long time been difficult to treat. Novel targeted therapies, however, are generating excitement and hope for improvement.
- For AML, two targeted therapies called menin inhibitors were recently approved for approximately 40% of AML cases. Researchers — including Dana-Farber’s Scott Armstrong, MD, PhD, whose research led to the discovery of menin inhibitors — are now testing these drugs in combination with other therapies with hopes that combinations will lead to substantial survival benefits for patients. “This is a monumental step forward,” says Jacqueline Garcia, MD, a medical oncologist in the Division of Leukemia. Learn more about the science behind menin inhibitors.
- For pancreatic cancer, a novel RAS inhibitor is being tested in a phase III clinical trial led by Dana-Farber’s Brian Wolpin, MD, MPH, director of the Hale Family Center for Pancreatic Cancer Research at Dana-Farber, and is showing promising early results. RAS inhibitors are providing much needed hope for this difficult-to-treat disease and, through efforts from Dana-Farber’s Center for RAS Therapeutics, also hold potential for breakthroughs in other cancers with RAS mutations.
“The revolution in targeting RAS has been one of the biggest therapeutic advances in the history of clinical care for pancreatic cancer patients,” says Andrew Aguirre, MD, PhD, co-director of the Center for RAS Therapeutics and Associate Director of the Hale Family Center for Pancreatic Cancer Research at Dana-Farber.
Personalized cancer vaccines
Personalized cancer vaccines are designed specifically to train a patient’s immune system to fight their individual form of cancer and keep it from coming back after treatment. Dana-Farber investigators including Catherine Wu, MD, and Patrick Ott, MD, PhD, are continually improving on these vaccines and testing them in clinical trials in cancers such as melanoma and kidney cancer.
A new way to deliver radiation therapy
Radioligand therapy, a form of targeted radioactive treatment, was recently approved for use in earlier lines of therapy for metastatic prostate cancer and could change the game for patients with aggressive forms of the disease. It is also beginning to be tested in clinical trials as a treatment for other types of cancer. Dana-Farber’s Department of Imaging, directed by Heather Jacene, MD, is a leader in delivering this exciting new form of therapy.
“At Dana-Farber, we have highly trained staff to make sure that the radioactivity and these agents are given appropriately to patients and are administered in a safe manner,” Jacene says.
Tools to guide treatment decisions
Blood tests called liquid biopsies evaluate fragments of tumors circulating in the bloodstream called circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA). These liquid biopsies are being tested as non-invasive ways to detect cancer relapse early and aid in personalization of treatment. For instance, clinical trials at Dana-Farber are exploring if they can be used to identify patients who might benefit from more intensive therapy and patients who might do well with less.
Protein degraders
Dana-Farber President and CEO Benjamin Ebert, MD, PhD, discovered that certain drugs used to treat blood cancers like AML and multiple myeloma work by degrading proteins that drive cancer growth. Now, Dana-Farber researchers like Eric Fischer, PhD, and others are working towards developing novel protein degraders that could be useful for the treatment of many forms of cancer.
Novel protein degraders are also advancing in clinical trials now, such as trials led by Dana-Farber’s Erica Mayer, MD, MPH, of giredestrant, a selective estrogen receptor degrader (SERD), for the treatment of some forms of breast cancer.
“We think this next decade could be the clinical decade for protein degradation,” says Fischer.
Earlier detection and interception of cancer
Blood tests called Multi-Cancer Early Detection tests are making it possible to detect cancer early, when treatments have the potential to be more effective. Dana-Farber-led clinical trials aim to determine who might benefit from these tests most in the near term. In addition, Dana-Farber’s Centers for Early Detection and Interception are helping patients with elevated risks of cancer, such as colon cancer, pancreatic cancer, AML, and multiple myeloma.
Health and wellness
Evidence is mounting that a focus on health and wellness, where possible, can reduce the risk of cancer. For example:
- Clinical trials led by Dana-Farber researchers Jeffrey Meyerhardt, MD, MPH, Kimmie Ng, MD, MPH, are finding that diet and exercise can improve outcomes for people during cancer treatment and may reduce the risk of cancer coming back after treatment. Research continues, but the findings so far suggest that a focus on an anti-inflammatory diet and regular activities such as daily walks can make a difference for colorectal cancer patients.
- Jennifer Ligibel, MD, has also devised a weight loss program for patients after breast cancer treatment and aims to determine if it can help patients reduce their risks of their cancer coming back.
Artificial intelligence (AI)
We are all interacting with digital tools differently with the advent of AI chatbots and agents. Dana-Farber researchers are working towards building reliable AI-assistants for oncologists to help make sure they haven’t missed a recent advancement that could help their patients. The work is in its early stages and requires rigorous testing, which Dana-Farber is committed to completing to ensure that digital clinical assistants are safe and effective.
“Dana-Farber is leading research at the intersection of clinical oncology and AI with the intent of making practical tools that advance the mission of improving the lives of patients with cancer everywhere,” says Eliezer Van Allen, MD, chief of the Division of Population Sciences at Dana-Farber.
Learn more about AI research at Dana-Farber.
Next-generation cell therapies
CAR T-cell therapy was first introduced in 2017 and is now being used to treat many forms of blood cancer. It is also being explored as a possible therapy for childhood brain cancer and is moving to be used earlier in treatment for some blood cancers, such as multiple myeloma, where it could move the needle for this incurable cancer.
That alone is hopeful, but in addition, Dana-Farber researchers are engineering completely new types of cell therapies, including:
- CAR-T cell therapies with multiple targets and precisely tuned functions.
- Natural killer (NK) cell therapies.
- Tumor infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapies
Tools to study the immune system
Immunotherapies have improved cancer treatment dramatically, but their power to fight cancer has not yet been fully harnessed. New research tools are helping researchers see new opportunities for leveraging the immune system against cancer. Immunopeptidomics and spatial profiling tools are two examples that are giving Dana-Farber researchers new windows into how to leverage the immune system to fight cancer.
Written By: Beth Dougherty