Here at OncoBites, a team of cancer professionals and advocates has gathered to share cutting-edge research with a non-specialist audience. We understand that jargon and isolated professional communities have made science feel inaccessible to most people, even people considering the field. In addition, paywalls on articles can make trying to investigate topics alone a challenge.... Continue Reading →
Cancer Cell Mitochondria: Sneaky Agents that Reprogram Healthy Cells Into Cancer Buddies
Reading time: 4 minutes Mariella Bodemeier Loayza Careaga If people were asked to name an organelle inside the cell, the word “mitochondria” would certainly pop into most people’s heads. While we always remember that mitochondria are central to energy production in cells, these bean-shaped organelles also have the amazing ability to move between cells, a... Continue Reading →
Multi-Cancer Early Detection (MCED): The Next Frontier in Cancer Diagnostics
Reading time: 9 minutes Preeti Prangya Panda Cancer is the leading cause of mortality worldwide, with about 10 million deaths annually. Treatment outcomes are normally stage-sensitive, i.e., the sooner it is detected, the better the survival outcomes are for the patient. For instance, the current 5-year survival rate for stage I localized colorectal cancer is... Continue Reading →
Multiple Myeloma and Anemia: The Critical Connection
Reading Time: 3 mins Libby-Ann Harpaul-Sahadeo What is Multiple Myeloma? Multiple myeloma (MM) is a blood cancer that may sometimes present as tumors called plasmacytomas, which are clusters of these malignant plasma cells. In this disease, healthy plasma cells turn cancerous and multiply uncontrollably. The cancerous plasma cells also produce excessive amounts of an abnormal... Continue Reading →
Primary refractory and relapsed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma: current treatment options and ongoing developments, an activity
Reading time: 13 minutes (special: includes a pre- and post-article quiz activity!) Néstor Zumaya Image from: Bock AM, Narendranath Epperla. Therapeutic landscape of primary refractory and relapsed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma: Recent advances and emerging therapies. Journal of Hematology & Oncology. 2025 Jul 1;18(1). Activity: Choose the right answer based on your current knowledge. You’ll... Continue Reading →
Immunotherapies for Ovarian Cancer Treatment
Reading time: 7 minutes Lubna Najm Ovarian cancer is one of the top ten most common malignancies to affect women and females worldwide (NIH National Cancer Institute, 2025; Wang et al., 2025), with a 51.6% five-year survival rate (NIH National Cancer Institute, 2025). Named the ‘silent killer’ amongst women-prevalent diseases because its symptoms are either... Continue Reading →
Will Robots Replace Colonoscopies? Latest Insights into Robotic and Capsule Endoscopy Technologies
Reading time: 5 minutes Maanya Rajasree Katta Introduction If you have delayed a colonoscopy, you are not alone. The preparation is lengthy, the cleanse is uncomfortable, and sedation can disrupt an entire day. Yet, colorectal cancer is among the most preventable cancers when detected early through screening. Fortunately, the screening landscape is changing, and two... Continue Reading →
Bringing Precision Cancer Care Closer to Patients
Reading time: 6 minutes Shashank Gidipally, PharmD. Challenge of Bringing Precision Oncology to Skin Cancer Care in Community Settings In the last decade, skin cancer treatment has gone under a big shift. At first, treatments were limited to surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. Now, practitioners have access to targeted genetic therapies and immunotherapies that have dramatically... Continue Reading →
The Right Dosage of Taxanes – What happens after a Taxane toxicity?
Reading Time: 3 minutes Libby-Ann Harpaul-Sahadeo Chemotherapy is a drug treatment that uses powerful chemicals to kill fast-growing cells in the body. It is most often used to treat cancer. Taxanes are a class of chemotherapy drugs used to treat many types of cancer, including ovarian, breast, lung, cervical, endometrial, gastroesophageal, and head and neck... Continue Reading →
The role of preclinical oncology imaging in accelerating cancer drug development
Keyword: Preclinical oncology imaging Reading time: 6 minutes Bethany Cooper Introduction With almost 10 million deaths from cancer in 2020, it is the leading cause of death globally, accounting for nearly one in every six deaths. Given the scale and burden of disease, it is no surprise that oncology trials make up a significant proportion... Continue Reading →
Ultrasound-controlled CAR-T cells to fight solid tumors
Reading time: 5 minutes Anthony Tao Introduction For cancer to successfully grow, one of the major obstacles it must face is the immune system. Cells of the immune system, such as T cells, have natural and effective mechanisms that allow them to monitor the body and attack any cancer cell that might arise. For decades,... Continue Reading →
A New Potential Therapeutic Approach Targeting Cancer Metabolism: Adipose Manipulation Transplantation (AMT)
Reading time: 8 minutes Colin Ong Altered Metabolism in Cancer Cells Metabolic rewiring is one of the key features of cancer cells1. These cells display altered metabolism as a way to meet their constant energy needs. This increased energy requirement is essential for the continuous proliferation and survival of these cells within the tumor microenvironment.... Continue Reading →
Power of Data Sharing
Reading time: 3 minutes Patty Spears One of the most valuable contributions a patient can make to science is to donate tumor tissue for research. It is important to use the tissue in research in a way that respects the intentions of the patient who donated it. Tumor tissue can continue to add value to... Continue Reading →
Skull bone marrow as a source for immune cells in glioma
Reading time: 5 minutes Anna Salamero Boix The tumor microenvironment has emerged as a potential therapeutic target in cancer therapy. Within the tumor microenvironment, tumor-associated immune cells regulate tumor progression and immune evasion (1). While most research has focused on targeting immune cell activity, fewer studies have interrogated the origin of tumor-associated immune cells. Expanding... Continue Reading →
A Shot at Treating Cancer: Therapeutic Cancer Vaccines in the Spotlight
Reading time: 6 minutes Mariella Careaga Finding effective ways to treat different types of cancer has been a long-standing goal for scientists all over the world. In this quest, many have turned their attention to vaccines. Originally created to fight microbes that cause infections, the vaccine's ability to stimulate immune responses specifically against certain antigens... Continue Reading →
Do Energy Drinks Cause Cancer? Exploring the Latest Research
Reading time: 7 minutes Preeti Prangya Panda Energy drinks are treated like a fast, accessible, and powerful tool to regain energy. Their popularity is undeniable. More than 38% of young adults use energy drinks, and the use is generally high among athletes, shift workers, motivated workers, and students. Taurine is one of the most important... Continue Reading →
Could Liquid Biopsy Improve CRC Screening Rates and Care After Diagnosis for Younger Adults?
Reading time: 6 minutes Nicole Bowens, PhD The incidence of colorectal cancer (CRC) is currently rising in adults aged 20 to 49 years.1 Increasing accessibility to screening may help improve early detection for this population. Liquid biopsy is one method that may accomplish this goal. Additionally, liquid biopsy may also help to improve outcomes after... Continue Reading →
Advancing Immunology Therapy: Early Prediction of Skin Cancer Patients’ Chances of Responding to Treatment and Trials on Prednisone and Sirolimus for Kidney Transplant Recipients
Reading time: 5 minutes Joycelyn Ghansah, MA, MPH Active treatments like immunotherapy are used for various cancers, including melanoma, commonly known as skin cancer. Unfortunately, only about half of the patients respond to this type of treatment. Current research focuses on early prediction of skin cancers and identifying which patients are likely to respond positively... Continue Reading →
The link between cancer and gut microbiome
Reading time: 7 minutes Oluoma Vivian Aneke The human microbiota is comprised of trillions of microorganisms that have both bacterial and viral origins. They work together with the immune system to fight the invasion of pathogens. They also help to carry out metabolic functions, extract energy like short-chain fatty acids, and source essential nutrients and... Continue Reading →
Cancer After Childbirth: An Uncommon But Possible Phenomenon
Reading time: 7 minutes Jessica Desamero, PhD Recently, I noticed I knew a good number of individuals that have developed cancer while pregnant or shortly after giving birth. Although there’s no direct correlation between pregnancy and the risk of cancer, could there be an indirect link? After researching potential causes, I found that pregnancy-associated cancer... Continue Reading →
How Cancer Cells Steal Energy: The Story of Mitochondrial Transfer
Reading time: 4 minutes Hema Saranya Ilamathi Cancer is not just a disease of uncontrolled cell growth—it's a master in cellular manipulation and survival. Scientists have long known that cancer cells behave very differently from normal ones. They reprogram themselves to survive in harsh environments, change the way they use nutrients, and even manipulate their... Continue Reading →
Targeting the undruggable: Updates in KRAS directed therapies
Reading time: 5 minutes Chris Wang Since its discovery in 1982, therapies targeting the mutated KRAS oncogene have long eluded cancer researchers. KRAS has been considered an undruggable target for decades due to lack of a binding pocket where a drug could fit.1 However, the need for KRAS targeting therapies is severely needed as KRAS... Continue Reading →
Imaging-enabled insights from top radiopharmaceutical therapy trials
Reading time: 5 minutes Bethany Cooper Over the last 5 years, the radiopharmaceutical sector has seen significant global growth, with discoveries transforming cancer diagnostics and treatment through the targeted use of radiation. Methods to deliver radiation are becoming more precise, controlled, and effective, targeting tumor cells directly while sparing healthy tissue. Three seminal trials have... Continue Reading →
From tumor to torment: The neurobiology of depression in cancer
Reading time: 5 minutes Anthony Tao Cancer is a debilitating disease in more ways than one. Its devastation arises predominantly from its parasitic nature, siphoning the host body's nutrients and space for tumor growth. Predictably, this leaves victims feeling tired and worn down, with muscle weakness and malnutrition. Altogether, this cancer-associated weakening and wasting is known... Continue Reading →
Cancer Reversal: The Reset of Cancer Cells into Normal Cells
Reading time: 6 minutes Mikayla Sheild Cancer is a disease that has long been around, with the earliest known documented human case dating back over 5000 years ago in Ancient Egypt. [1] Millions of people around the world deal with it on a daily basis, whether as a patient themself or as a caregiver of... Continue Reading →
Can We Manipulate the Gut Microbiome to Improve Cancer Outcomes?
Could the key to efficient chemotherapy lie in our gut? Read along to find out. Reading time: 6 minutes Yousra Iftequar Cancer is a word that carries weight, fear, and urgency. It’s a disease that has touched nearly every family, leaving behind stories of resilience, loss, and medical breakthroughs. As one of the leading causes... Continue Reading →
The Hidden Burdens: Understanding Breast Cancer’s Unique Impact on Young Patients
Reading time: 3 minutes Laura Urbina Breast cancer (BC) is often thought of as a disease that affects mainly older women. Statistics show that about 10% of new BC diagnoses in the U.S. represent women under 45 years old [1]. For these young patients, the experience of BC is challenging, with more aggressive tumor characteristics,... Continue Reading →
The benefits of using gabapentin to relieve cancer-related neuropathic pain
Reading time: 5 minutes Joycelyn Ghansah, MA, MPH Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN), or neuropathic pain (pain due to nerve damage), is a common type of pain experienced by cancer patients, especially those receiving treatment. It happens due to the side effects of cancer drugs, which affect 19% to over 85% of patients. CIPN mostly causes... Continue Reading →
A Bite of Hope in Dark Chocolate
Reading time: 5 minutes Sandhyaa Venkatachalam Who doesn’t love dark chocolate? A moment of pure bliss in every square… a deep, complex flavor in every bite… a luxurious treat that dances between bitter and sweet… dark chocolate is a true celebration of indulgence. What’s more tempting is the abundant dose of health benefits that dark... Continue Reading →
The Path Toward a CRISPR Picture of BRCA Gene Variants
Reading time: 5 minutes Anthony Tao According to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, 1 in 8 women will have breast cancer in their lifetime. In 2024, an estimated 300,000 women and nearly 3000 men were diagnosed with breast cancer.1,2 In many cases, breast cancer can be attributed to two genes ‒ BRCA1 and BRCA2 (collectively... Continue Reading →
From Pixels to Prognosis: The Role of Radiomics in Oncology
Reading time: 5 minutes Preeti Prangya Panda In 1895, Wilhelm Roentgen discovered X-rays that paved the way for seeing into the human body. This invention revolutionized medical science. Today, the discovery has transformed into a powerful decoding tool that translates the hidden images in clinical scans. This emerging field is called radiomics, which is cracking... Continue Reading →
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