New Lung Cancer Treatments Show Real Promise
New 2025 Research Brings Hope for Advanced Lung Cancer
New research shared in 2025 brings hope for people with advanced non-small cell lung cancer. Scientists presented several treatment updates that are helping patients live longer with fewer side effects. One medicine, aumolertinib, helped slow cancer growth—especially when combined with chemotherapy. Aumolertinib is a targeted therapy that blocks the EGFR protein, which drives tumor growth in certain lung cancers. When added to chemotherapy, it has been shown to significantly delay cancer progression and is generally well tolerated. Another drug, JYP0322, worked well for people with a rare type of lung cancer, even when the cancer had spread to the brain. JYP0322 is an investigational ROS1 inhibitor designed to cross the blood-brain barrier, making it effective against brain metastases. Early trials showed promising responses in patients who had previously received other ROS1-targeted treatments.
Other promising treatments are helping people whose cancer carries uncommon genetic changes. A pill called zongertinib helped many patients and caused fewer side effects than older drugs. Zongertinib targets HER2-mutated lung cancer, which is rare but often aggressive. Clinical studies showed it shrinks tumors effectively and causes fewer side effects compared with older treatments. Another new medicine, zoldonrasib, showed early success in shrinking tumors in patients whose cancer had stopped responding to other treatments. While one immune-based drug didn’t work as well as hoped, researchers believe it still has potential. Zoldonrasib, is designed for cancers with the KRAS G12D mutation, a mutation that was historically difficult to treat. Early trial results indicate it can shrink tumors in patients whose cancer no longer responds to standard therapies. Overall, the message is clear: more personalized and effective treatments are on the horizon. (Source: American Association for Cancer Research)
Read the complete article here >
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Targeted Pill Delays Lung Cancer Return
Tagrisso (Osimertinib) Delays EGFR Lung Cancer Recurrence
A new treatment is bringing hope to people with stage 3 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that has a mutation in a gene called EGFR, which stands for epidermal growth factor receptor. This gene helps cells grow, and when it’s mutated, it can cause cancer to grow faster. These EGFR mutations are found in many people with lung cancer—especially never smokers and those of Asian descent.
In the LAURA trial, patients who had already completed chemotherapy and radiation were given the pill Tagrisso (osimertinib) to help prevent their cancer from coming back. The study, led by Dr. Suresh Ramalingam of Winship Cancer Institute at Emory University, showed powerful results: people who took Tagrisso stayed cancer-free for a median of 39 months—compared to just 5.6 months in the group that didn’t take the drug. That means Tagrisso reduced the risk of cancer returning or spreading by 84%.
Tagrisso (osimertinib) is a once-daily targeted therapy used to treat EGFR-mutated non-small cell lung cancer. It works by blocking the abnormal EGFR signals that cause cancer cells to grow, helping delay recurrence and slow disease progression. Tagrisso has become a standard treatment in several stages of EGFR-positive lung cancer and is especially valued for its ability to help protect against cancer spreading to the brain.
While some patients experienced side effects like inflammation in the lungs, no new safety issues were found. Tagrisso is now the first targeted therapy to show such a strong benefit for stage 3 EGFR-positive lung cancer. Doctors believe this could become the new standard of care—offering more time and hope to patients with this aggressive form of lung cancer. (Source: Winship Cancer Institute at Emory University)
New Targets Found in Rare Cancers
Researchers Identify New Treatment Targets for Hard-to-Treat Cancers
Researchers have discovered four new possible treatment targets for hard-to-treat cancers like osteosarcoma (a bone cancer), glioblastoma (a fast-growing brain tumor), and rare pancreatic tumors. These cancers often survive by using a backup system to protect their DNA called the ALT pathway (short for Alternative Lengthening of Telomeres). This system helps cancer cells keep dividing and growing, even when most treatments stop working.
To find these weak spots, scientists developed a new tool called BLOCK-ID, which acts like a microscope for cancer’s stress points. When cancer cells try to copy their DNA and make new cells, things can go wrong—this is called replication stress. BLOCK-ID lets researchers see which proteins rush in to help the cancer survive during this stress. One of the newly discovered proteins, TRIM24, along with three others, may be helping these tough cancers grow. Blocking them could shut down the cancer’s defenses.
More research is underway to test whether these new targets can lead to real treatments. For patients with aggressive or rare cancers, this offers new hope for future therapies that go after cancer at its core. (Source: Winship Cancer Institute at Emory University)
Three New Lung Cancer Treatments Show Promise
Three New Lung Cancer Treatments in 2025 Showing Promise at ASCO
At the 2025 ASCO cancer meeting, researchers shared encouraging updates on new treatments for both small cell and non-small cell lung cancer. One study showed that tarlatamab, a new type of targeted immunotherapy, helped patients with recurrent small cell lung cancer live longer with fewer side effects than standard chemotherapy — even in cases where the cancer had spread to the brain. This is an especially hopeful sign for a disease with very few second-line treatment options.
Another study focused on a pill called zipalertinib, developed for patients with an uncommon EGFR mutation (exon 20 insertion). Many of these patients had already tried chemotherapy or other targeted treatments with limited success. In the trial, zipalertinib shrank tumors in about one-third of patients, including those whose cancer had progressed or reached the brain. A third trial found that giving the targeted drug osimertinib before surgery helped shrink tumors in EGFR-positive lung cancer, and may reduce the chances of the cancer coming back.
These advances show how targeted therapies are becoming more personalized and effective — even for hard-to-treat lung cancers. For many patients, they represent not just longer life, but better quality of life. (Source: Memorial Sloan Kettering)
Vitamin C Boosts Cancer Survival
IV Vitamin C Shows Promise in Advanced Cancer Clinical Trial
A new study offers hope for patients facing some of the toughest cancer diagnoses. In a phase 2 clinical trial, adding high-dose intravenous (IV) vitamin C to standard chemotherapy nearly doubled survival for people with advanced pancreatic cancer—from 8 months to 16 months. Patients also reported feeling better during treatment, with fewer side effects and improved ability to tolerate therapy. This research adds to a growing body of evidence suggesting that high-dose IV vitamin C could help improve both survival and quality of life for people with aggressive cancers.
Researchers at the University of Iowa have spent nearly 20 years studying the effects of vitamin C delivered by IV rather than by mouth, where it can reach levels high enough to damage cancer cells while leaving healthy cells mostly unharmed. Encouraging results have also been seen in brain cancer and are being studied in lung cancer. Experts say that because vitamin C is low-cost and well tolerated, it could become a helpful add-on to treatment—not just for pancreatic cancer, but for other difficult-to-treat cancers as well. (Source: University of Iowa Health Care / Redox Biology)
The Truth About Sugar and Cancer
What Cancer Patients Should Know About Diet
Learn why sugar doesn’t directly “feed” cancer, which foods support health during treatment, and how to maintain a balanced diet.
Sugar often causes confusion and anxiety for people concerned about cancer, with many myths claiming sugar “feeds” cancer cells. Experts clarify that while high sugar intake can lead to obesity—a known risk factor for certain cancers—sugar itself doesn’t directly cause cancer. Cancer develops when cells grow uncontrollably due to factors like genetics, tobacco, alcohol, radiation, or even chance.
A common misconception is that the natural sugar (fructose) in fruits should be avoided. In fact, eating fresh fruits and vegetables in practical amounts as part of a balanced diet actually supports overall health and can reduce cancer risk.
If you’re diagnosed with cancer, completely eliminating sugar won’t help cure or slow your disease. Restrictive diets may even weaken your body when strength is essential. Instead, experts recommend a balanced, Mediterranean-style diet and suggest working with a registered dietitian to tailor your nutritional plan, manage treatment side effects, and keep your body strong throughout your cancer journey. (Source: Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center)
Read the complete article here >
9 Common Questions About Genetic Testing for Cancer
How Knowing Your Risk Can Guide Treatment
For patients facing stage 4 lung cancer or those with a strong family history of cancer, genetic testing can offer clarity, guidance, and hope. About 10% of cancers are hereditary, meaning they are driven by inherited gene mutations that can be passed through families. Testing for these mutations, such as BRCA1, BRCA2, and others linked to lung or related cancers, helps doctors understand a patient’s personal cancer risk and may also guide treatment choices—especially for targeted therapies.
Importantly, having a gene mutation doesn’t mean you’ll definitely get cancer, but it does raise your risk. If you already have cancer, genetic testing can sometimes influence treatment decisions, like choosing one type of chemotherapy or surgery over another. For those with a family history, testing can alert relatives to start earlier cancer screenings or preventive measures. Bringing a detailed family history to your genetic counseling appointment can be a valuable first step.
Knowing your genetic risk empowers you to take proactive steps—whether that’s enrolling in clinical trials, pursuing early screening, or helping your children understand their potential risks. While we can’t change our genes, we can change how we respond to what they tell us. (Source: Mayo Clinic)
MMRd Cancers Respond to Immunotherapy
Clinical Trial Shows Surgery-Free Treatment Success
A new immunotherapy-only approach is offering real hope to people with early-stage cancers that have a specific genetic mutation called mismatch repair-deficiency (MMRd). In a large clinical trial, nearly 80% of patients with rectal, colon, stomach, esophageal, and other MMRd cancers were successfully treated using immunotherapy alone — with no need for surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation. For rectal cancer patients, the response rate was 100%. This treatment uses a type of immunotherapy called a checkpoint inhibitor, which helps the immune system recognize and destroy cancer cells. It’s a major shift in care, especially for cancers that typically require organ removal or harsh treatments.
Why does this matter? For many patients, standard treatments like surgery and radiation can lead to permanent changes in bowel, urinary, or sexual function — or even infertility. This new strategy preserves quality of life and may especially help those with Lynch syndrome, a condition that increases cancer risk but often responds poorly to chemotherapy. Importantly, the FDA has granted breakthrough status to the immunotherapy drug used, Jemperli (dostarlimab), based on these promising results. As research continues, doctors hope to extend this approach to more cancer types, beyond those with MMRd. (Source: Memorial Sloan Kettering)
Why Ancestry Impacts Cancer Treatments
Variant of Unknown Significance: What It Means for Your Treatment
Genetic testing is a key part of modern cancer care. It can reveal mutations in your tumor that help doctors choose targeted treatments. But sometimes the results show a “variant of unknown significance,” or VUS. This means there’s a change in your DNA that researchers don’t fully understand yet, so doctors can’t say for sure whether a treatment would work.
This happens more often in people with African, Asian, Hispanic, or Indigenous ancestry—not because of biology, but because most genetic databases have historically focused on people of European descent. If your background is underrepresented in these databases, it’s more likely your test result will be unclear.
Doctors are working to better understand these unknown mutations by expanding research and improving how genetic data is interpreted. Over time, more variants will be decoded—and what’s uncertain today may lead to new treatment options tomorrow.
For now, if your test includes a VUS result, don’t be discouraged. It’s still valuable information, and you can ask your care team whether additional testing, clinical trials, or updated interpretations could help guide your treatment path. (Source: Memorial Sloan Kettering)
Top Questions to Ask After a Lung Cancer Diagnosis
If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with lung cancer, knowing what questions to ask can make a major difference in your treatment journey. Dr. Mark Awad, a leading lung cancer expert at Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK), emphasizes the importance of understanding your specific type and stage of lung cancer — whether it’s small cell or non-small cell — and making sure all the necessary scans have been done to determine where the cancer is in the body. It’s also vital to ask about comprehensive genomic and biomarker testing, which can uncover genetic mutations and guide your doctors to the most effective, personalized treatment options, including immunotherapy or targeted drugs.
Dr. Awad also stresses the value of being treated by a dedicated lung cancer team with extensive experience, and encourages patients to seek a second opinion to ensure the best care. While starting treatment quickly may feel urgent, gathering complete information first often leads to better long-term outcomes. Many treatment centers, including MSK, offer care options closer to home and provide support services to help manage side effects, improve quality of life, and support emotional and practical needs. Most importantly, communicate openly with your care team about your goals and what’s most meaningful to you — so your treatment can support your whole life, not just your diagnosis. (Source: Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center)
Hope for KRAS-G12D Lung Cancer
KRAS-G12D Lung Cancer Clinical Trial Shows Promising Results
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center researchers have reported promising results from a first-of-its-kind clinical trial targeting the KRAS-G12D mutation in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The experimental drug zoldonrasib (RMC-9805) demonstrated significant tumor shrinkage in 61% of participants who had previously not responded to standard treatments. These findings offer hope for patients with this challenging mutation subtype.
Addressing ‘Brain Fog’ After CAR T-Cell Therapy
Brain Fog After CAR T-Cell Therapy: What New Research Shows
Some people who receive CAR T-cell therapy describe a frustrating mental “fogginess” afterward—forgetfulness, trouble concentrating, or feeling slower to think through tasks. For cancer survivors who have fought hard to get to the other side of treatment, these cognitive changes can be discouraging, even when the cancer response is excellent.
New research from Stanford Medicine helps explain why this can happen and points toward possible treatment strategies being explored.1
Read the research report published by Stanford Medicine>
Read publication in Cell from May 12, 2025>
What is CAR T-cell therapy?
CAR T-cell therapy is a type of immunotherapy that uses a patient’s own T cells (a kind of immune cell). Doctors collect T cells, “reprogram” them to recognize specific targets on cancer cells, and then infuse them back into the body so they can seek out and destroy cancer.2
CAR T-cell therapy was first approved in 2017 for certain leukemias and is now used for several blood cancers (and is being tested in clinical trials for additional cancers).3
What does “brain fog” mean in this context?
“Brain fog” isn’t a formal medical diagnosis, but it’s a common way patients describe symptoms such as:
- Difficulty concentrating
- Slower thinking or processing speed
- Short-term memory lapses
- Trouble multitasking
- Feeling mentally “tired” even after rest
In the Stanford-led work, the cognitive effects observed were described as typically mild—not the kind of decline associated with dementia—but still meaningful because they impact day-to-day quality of life and may not always resolve quickly on their own.4
What the new research found
1) CAR T-cell therapy alone may contribute to cognitive symptoms
One of the key questions researchers asked was whether cognitive changes could happen even when you set aside other potential contributors (like chemotherapy, radiation, or the cancer itself).
In mouse models, CAR T-cell therapy was associated with measurable changes in cognitive performance (including attention and short-term memory), even when cancers were located outside the brain.5
2) A common pathway may link “chemo brain,” illness-related brain fog, and CAR T-related brain fog
The researchers reported that the underlying biology they observed resembles mechanisms seen in other brain fog settings—such as after chemotherapy and after some respiratory infections (like flu and COVID-19).6
3) Microglia (brain immune cells) appear to play a central role
The brain has its own immune “first responders,” called microglia. In the study, microglia appeared to shift into a reactive, inflammatory state after CAR T-cell therapy, producing immune signaling molecules (cytokines and chemokines).7
A helpful way to visualize the proposed chain reaction:
- Immune activation → microglia become “revved up”
- Microglia release inflammatory signals
- Those signals disrupt cells that support healthy nerve signaling
This is the same idea referenced in the image caption used with the Stanford report: in therapy- or illness-induced brain fog, microglia can produce inflammatory chemicals that reduce oligodendroglial cells and their myelin.8
4) Oligodendrocytes and myelin may be affected
Oligodendrocytes are cells that make myelin, a fatty insulating layer around nerve fibers that helps signals travel efficiently through the brain.
In the study, inflammatory changes were associated with disruption of oligodendroglial health and myelin-related processes—changes that can plausibly contribute to feeling mentally slower or less sharp.9
The paper also described broader nervous-system impacts in mice, including signs of a persistent CNS immune response and disruptions involving hippocampal neurogenesis (a process connected with learning and memory).10
What about evidence in humans?
This is an important point: much of the experimental work was done in mice, but the researchers also examined human brain tissue from participants in a CAR T clinical trial for brainstem tumors. Those analyses supported the idea that microglia and oligodendrocytes can show reactive/dysregulated states after CAR T therapy.11
Can CAR T-related brain fog be treated?
Researchers are not saying there is an approved, standard medication today specifically for CAR T-related cognitive symptoms—but the study is encouraging because it tested strategies that reversed cognitive effects in mice:
- Temporary microglial depletion (in mice, a short period depleted microglia; when they returned, they came back in a more normal, non-reactive state and cognitive performance improved).12
- Blocking a chemokine receptor pathway (CCR3), which improved cognitive performance and rescued oligodendroglial deficits in the mouse model.13
The Stanford report also notes that the team identified compounds similar to existing medications or those in clinical development, raising hope that treatments could be translated more quickly than if development had to start from scratch.14
What this means for patients and caregivers right now
If you or a loved one notices brain fog after CAR T therapy, you’re not imagining it—and you’re not alone. This area is getting increased research attention because survivorship and quality of life matter.
Here are practical next steps that may help (and are reasonable to discuss with your care team):
1) Tell your oncology team what you’re experiencing
Be specific about:
- When symptoms started
- Whether they’re improving, stable, or worsening
- How they’re affecting work, driving, medication management, or daily tasks
2) Ask about screening and supportive care
Depending on your situation, your team may suggest:
- Neurocognitive screening or referral to neuropsychology
- Occupational therapy strategies for memory and organization
- Cognitive rehab programs (often used in chemo-related cognitive impairment)
3) Check for other treatable contributors
Brain fog can be worsened by factors that are sometimes addressable, such as:
- Sleep disruption
- Anxiety/depression
- Anemia, thyroid issues, vitamin deficiencies
- Medication side effects
- Ongoing inflammation or infection recovery
4) Know when to seek urgent care
Seek urgent medical attention if there is sudden or severe confusion, new weakness, slurred speech, severe headache, seizures, or rapidly worsening symptoms—especially in the setting of recent cancer therapy.
Questions you can bring to your next appointment
- “Is brain fog something you see after CAR T therapy in your patients?”
- “What symptoms would you want me to report right away?”
- “Can you refer me for cognitive screening or supportive therapy?”
- “Are there clinical trials studying cognitive effects after CAR T therapy?”
- “Could any of my current medications be contributing to these symptoms?”
Stay connected
At Stage4Hope, we share research updates like this because informed patients and caregivers are empowered patients and caregivers. If you’re navigating late-stage cancer treatment or survivorship challenges, we invite you to explore more resources and join our community for continued support.
References:
- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12, 14: Stanford Medicine
- 8: EurekAlert
- 10, 13: PubMed
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