This week’s cancer news brings fresh investment in childhood cancer research, a promising less-invasive test for endometrial cancer and a new high-powered window into the cells that survive treatment.
From finding kinder ways to treat childhood cancers to spotting endometrial cancer with urine and vaginal samples, Australian cancer research is pushing towards treatments and tests that do less harm.
Also making news, Cancer Council has backed a crackdown on alcohol advertising, and cancer leader Professor Jeff Dunn has taken the chair at the Translational Research Institute.
A new $4.2 million laboratory dubbed a “Hubble Space Telescope” for cancer cells has opened in Sydney and is taking aim at the cells that stubbornly survive treatment.
Millions back kinder childhood cancer treatments
Victorian researchers will investigate new approaches to aggressive childhood cancers including neuroblastoma, sarcoma, and diffuse midline glioma under a $2.25 million funding program targeting more effective and less toxic treatments.
Children’s Cancer CoLab has awarded grants to four projects, which also include research into potentially life-threatening blood clots associated with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia treatment.
The organisation said the funding addressed a significant treatment gap, with only 19 targeted cancer drugs ever approved for children compared with more than 100 for adults.
“Too many Australian children with cancer are treated with therapies originally designed for adults, despite the unique needs of their growing bodies,” said CoLab CEO Dr Udani Reets.
The largest grant, worth $728,750, went to Dr Deborah Meyran and colleagues at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, who will investigate whether the anti-cancer drug curaxin CBL0137 can boost the effectiveness of immunotherapy against high-risk solid cancers.
Early research suggests the drug can kill neuroblastoma cells and “reawaken” the immune system, potentially improving the effect of anti-GD2 immunotherapy. The team will extend the approach to paediatric sarcomas, with the aim of reducing reliance on intensive treatment and its long-term effects.
WEHI Professor Vihandha Wickramasinghe and colleagues received $500,897 to investigate inhibitors that block mRNA export, a process on which some cancer cells depend for growth.
The researchers will identify childhood cancers particularly dependent on the pathway, including osteosarcoma, neuroblastoma, medulloblastoma, and rhabdomyosarcoma. The work is intended to lay the groundwork for more targeted and less toxic treatments.
At Monash University, Professor Lee Wong’s team received $512,000 to investigate a potential new approach to paediatric high-grade glioma.
The researchers will examine whether overcoming a biological barrier that prevents diffuse midline glioma cells from maturing could make the cancer cells less aggressive and more responsive to treatment. The approach will be tested across a collection of cell models developed from children’s tumours.
The fourth project, led by Professor Paul Monagle at the University of Melbourne and Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, received $505,035 to investigate serious blood clots associated with asparaginase treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.
The team will search for blood patterns that could predict which children and adolescents are most at risk and may benefit from clot-prevention medicines, potentially reducing both serious thrombosis and unnecessary preventive treatment.
The grants were funded through investments from the Victorian Government and Children’s Cancer Foundation and selected through a competitive process involving scientific and lived-experience review.
CoLab lived experience committee co-chair Lucy Fay Francazio, who was diagnosed with stage 3 anaplastic large cell lymphoma at 11, said the long-term effects of treatment highlighted the need for therapies designed specifically for children.
Ms Francazio underwent intensive chemotherapy and now lives with chronic nerve pain, permanent memory and cognitive problems, and fertility impacts attributed to treatment.
“Children aren’t small adults, and we shouldn’t have to keep borrowing treatments built for someone else,” she said.
“What we need are targeted, more effective, and kinder therapies, designed for children from the start.
“Surviving childhood cancer has to mean more than not dying from it.”
Cancer Council backs alcohol ad crackdown
Cancer Council Australia has backed calls for tougher regulation of alcohol advertising, saying the current industry-led system does not adequately protect Australians from marketing that encourages drinking.
The House of Representatives Standing Committee on Health, Aged Care and Disability has recommended the federal government establish a mandatory regulatory framework for alcohol advertising and marketing.
The recommendation forms part of the committee’s report into the health impacts of alcohol and other drugs. The report was tabled in parliament this month.
Under the proposed framework, measures would be introduced to reduce exposure to alcohol advertising among children and people at greatest risk.
The committee also recommended prohibiting the collection and use of personal information for alcohol marketing unless consumers opt in, harmonising rules across platforms including television and online media, and introducing monitoring and penalties for breaches.
It also called for the government to remove its representative from the Alcohol Beverages Advertising Code Scheme Management Committee to protect the independence of any new regulatory framework.
Cancer Council Australia said the recommendations reflected longstanding concerns about Australia’s reliance on voluntary alcohol advertising rules set largely by the industry itself.
Chair of Cancer Council’s Nutrition, Alcohol and Physical Activity Committee Clare Hughes said stronger regulation was overdue.
“The Committee’s recommendations are an important step toward a framework that puts the health of Australians first,” she said.
“Alcohol is a known cause of at least seven types of cancer, including cancer of the mouth, throat, oesophagus, breast, stomach, liver, and bowel.
“Reducing alcohol use reduces cancer risk, and that starts with ensuring Australians are not being targeted by marketing designed to encourage them to drink more.”
Ms Hughes said there was “no safe level of alcohol use when it comes to cancer”.
“Australians deserve to be able to make informed decisions about alcohol products, free from advertising that promotes consumption without acknowledging the risks,” she said.
The council has urged the federal government to adopt the committee’s recommendations and introduce a mandatory framework that prioritises public health.
It is also calling for mandatory health warning labels on alcohol products to alert consumers to the increased risk of cancer associated with drinking.
Cancer leader takes TRI chair
Leading cancer researcher and advocate Professor Jeff Dunn AO has been appointed chair of the Translational Research Institute, alongside a new international role with Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia.
In addition to his TRI appointment, Professor Dunn will also become the PCFA’s inaugural Global Advocacy Companion.
PCFA national chairman Adjunct Associate Professor Steve Callister AM said the TRI appointment recognised Professor Dunn’s four decades of work across cancer research, advocacy, governance, and cancer control.
“Jeff has devoted more than four decades to ensuring that research does not remain on a page or in a laboratory, but is translated into better policy, better care, and better outcomes for people affected by cancer,” Professor Callister said.
“His appointment as chair of TRI is fitting recognition of a leader who understands that scientific discovery achieves its greatest purpose when it changes and saves lives.”
TRI brings together researchers, clinicians, industry, and government to accelerate the translation of scientific discoveries into treatments, diagnostics and improvements in healthcare.
Professor Dunn said the institute stood at the “vital intersection between scientific discovery and human impact”.
“My experience as a researcher, advocate, and cancer survivor has reinforced one enduring truth: discovery matters most when it reaches people,” he said.
Professor Dunn’s appointment as PCFA’s Global Advocacy Companion follows his service as the organisation’s chief of mission and head of research.
In the new role, he will represent PCFA in international cancer control forums and develop alliances with research institutes, clinical leaders, peak bodies and patient organisations.
He will also promote Australian initiatives internationally, including the 2026 Guidelines for the Early Detection of Prostate Cancer and PCFA’s specialist nursing and survivorship models.
Professor Callister said the role would help extend PCFA’s international influence and create opportunities for collaboration.
“As PCFA’s inaugural Global Advocacy Companion, Jeff will ensure prostate cancer is named in international agendas where it is too often absent,” he said.
“He will carry Australia’s experience to the world and bring the world’s best thinking home to Australian men and their families.”
Professor Dunn is Professor of Social and Behavioural Science and Chair of Cancer Survivorship at the University of Southern Queensland and served as president of the Union for International Cancer Control from 2022 to 2024.
He has published more than 200 research papers and chaired the expert steering committee responsible for Australia’s 2026 national Guidelines for the Early Detection of Prostate Cancer. Professor Dunn was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2014 and named a Queensland Great in 2025.
Urine test shows promise for endometrial cancer triage
A simple test using urine and vaginal fluid could help identify women with postmenopausal bleeding who are most likely to have endometrial cancer, potentially reducing the need for invasive investigations.
The prospective DETECT study found combined urine and vaginal cytology detected about four in five endometrial cancers, with particularly high sensitivity for aggressive and advanced disease.
Published in The Lancet Obstetrics, Gynaecology, & Women’s Health, the multicentre diagnostic accuracy study included 1864 women recruited at seven hospitals in northwest England. Women provided a self-collected urine sample and a vaginal fluid sample before undergoing routine investigations for suspected endometrial cancer.
Postmenopausal bleeding is a red-flag symptom for endometrial cancer, but only around 5-10% of women presenting with it have an underlying malignancy. Current investigation can involve transvaginal ultrasound, endometrial biopsy and hysteroscopy, which can be invasive, costly, and painful.
Of the 1864 women in the study, 99 were diagnosed with endometrial cancer and another 16 had other pelvic cancers.
Combined urine and vaginal cytology detected 80 of the 99 endometrial cancers, giving a sensitivity of 80.8% and specificity of 92.6%. The negative predictive value was 98.8%, while the positive predictive value was 38.1%.
Importantly, the test performed better in more aggressive disease. It detected 95.8% of cancers with aggressive histology and 96.4% of locally advanced or metastatic cancers. Of 29 stage II-IV cancers, 28 returned positive urine and vaginal cytology, compared with 52 of 70 stage I cancers.
Vaginal cytology alone had a sensitivity of 79.8%, compared with 73.5% for urine cytology, although the difference was not statistically significant.
The researchers said urogenital cytology could ultimately be used as a triage test, allowing women with positive results to be fast-tracked for further investigation while potentially reducing immediate invasive testing among those at lower risk.
However, the test was not sufficiently sensitive to rule out endometrial cancer on its own. Low-grade and early-stage tumours were more likely to be missed, meaning women with ongoing symptoms after a negative result would still require repeat testing or a full diagnostic work-up.
The researchers said the potential benefit was significant given the burden of existing investigations. In the study, 61.1% of women underwent at least one attempted endometrial biopsy and 48.2% underwent hysteroscopy. Failure rates were 25.7% for biopsy and 17.8% for hysteroscopy, with cervical stenosis and intolerable pain among the reasons procedures could not be completed.
The researchers said sample collection did not require specialist training, raising the possibility that urogenital cytology could eventually be used for community-based triage before referral to rapid-access clinics.
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But they said further prospective studies were needed to establish how the test performs in routine clinical practice. The researchers also cautioned that samples in the study were assessed by highly trained specialist cytologists, meaning its performance in other settings remained uncertain.
“Our diagnostic accuracy study shows that urogenital cytology has excellent diagnostic accuracy for the detection of high-grade or advanced endometrial cancer in women with postmenopausal bleeding,” the researchers concluded.
“Its incorporation into the diagnostic pathway for women with postmenopausal bleeding could support the triage of high-risk women for urgent diagnostic work up, reducing time to diagnosis and directing health-care resources towards those in greatest need.
“Although the lower sensitivity of urogenital cytology for the detection of low-grade early-stage disease might necessitate repeat sampling or full diagnostic work-up in the event of ongoing symptoms, this novel test could still reduce the number of low-risk women receiving unnecessary, expensive, and potentially harmful invasive investigations.”
‘Hubble’ for cancer cells opens in Sydney
Australian researchers will be able to scrutinise individual cancer cells in unprecedented detail with the opening of the country’s first dedicated single-cell cancer proteomics laboratory.
The $4.2 million ACRF Single Cell Cancer Proteomics Laboratory at the University of Sydney will investigate why some cancer cells survive treatment, regrow and ultimately spread.
Located within Sydney Mass Spectrometry at the Charles Perkins Centre, the facility will be available as a national resource for cancer researchers.
A major target will be the small population of so-called “persister cells” that can survive chemotherapy even when most tumour cells are destroyed.
These cells can subsequently regrow and, in some cancers, contribute to metastasis and poor prognosis.
Researchers will use single-cell cancer proteomics to analyse proteins within individual cells and investigate what distinguishes treatment-resistant cells from those killed by therapy.
Laboratory lead Associate Professor Mark Larance, from the University of Sydney’s School of Medical Sciences and Charles Perkins Centre, said differences between cells within the same tumour could hold important clues.
“Not all cancer cells are the same, even within the same tumour. Understanding these differences is critical if we want to develop more effective and personalised treatments,” he said.
“Cancer treatment can be thought of as trying to eliminate all cancer cells, but the challenge is understanding the small population of cells that might survive. We want to know what is special about these persister cells that just won’t die.”
At the centre of the facility is an ACRF-funded Thermo Fisher Scientific Orbitrap Astral Zoom mass spectrometer, capable of analysing thousands of proteins from individual cells.
Associate Professor Larance described the instrument as the “Hubble Space Telescope” for looking inside cancer cells.
“This new ability to see these individual cells and understand what is happening inside them gives us a new way of approaching cancer treatment,” he said.
The laboratory will also use laser capture microdissection, single-cell sample preparation and advanced bioinformatics technologies.
Researchers will analyse cell lines from a range of cancers, including treatment-resistant melanoma and glioblastoma, as well as persistent forms of breast and prostate cancer.
Professor Leanne Redman, academic director of the Charles Perkins Centre, said the technology could also help unravel the biological connections between metabolic health and cancer.
“Metabolic conditions such as obesity are associated with at least 13 different cancers, yet we still have much to learn about the biological pathways that connect metabolic health and cancer,” she said.
The laboratory represents a combined $4.2 million investment from the Australian Cancer Research Foundation and the University of Sydney, with support from the Cancer Institute NSW.
Collaborators include researchers from the University of Sydney, Melanoma Institute Australia, Chris O’Brien Lifehouse, NSW Health Pathology, and Royal North Shore Hospital.
NSW tips $11M INTO REGIONAL CANCER RESEARCH
Regional cancer research and access to surgical clinical trials will get an $11 million boost under new NSW government grants aimed at closing gaps in cancer care outside metropolitan centres.
The five-year investment, announced on World Cancer Research Day, will fund two research networks spanning regional NSW and forms part of a broader $21 million commitment to translational cancer research capacity.
University of Newcastle Professor Nikola Bowden will receive $5 million to expand the Regional Cancer Research Network NSW, including research fellowships, PhD scholarships, training and education opportunities across areas including the Hunter and Central Coast.
A further $6 million will go to University of Sydney Professor Michael Solomon and the NSW Surgical Cancer Trial Capacity and Equity Alliance to improve access to surgical cancer trials, particularly for rural and regional patients and Aboriginal and multicultural communities.
Professor Solomon said fewer than 4% of registered cancer trials were surgical, despite surgery being the primary curative treatment for most solid tumours.
The alliance will train trial coordinators, establish centralised ethics, governance and data-management systems and work with regional and rural hospitals to build local research capacity.
Professor Bowden said the regional network would bring together universities, health services and Cancer Voices NSW to tackle research questions specific to regional communities.
“The Regional Cancer Research Network will scale-up regional cancer research over the next five years to address regional specific research questions and ultimately achieve the goal of equitable outcomes for people with cancer in regional NSW,” she said.
Two other grants complete the government’s $21 million investment – $6 million for Professor Anna DeFazio’s Sydney Cancer Partners and $4 million for Professor Geoff Delaney’s SPHERE network.
The funding will be administered through the Cancer Institute NSW.
