Consider Donating to Advance Research
RET-positive lung cancer is a rare type of cancer driven by a change in a gene called RET, which stands for “rearranged during transfection.” This gene helps control how cells grow and divide. When it fuses with another gene or mutates, it can cause cancer to grow and spread—especially in certain lung and thyroid cancers. Because RET changes are so rare, researchers don’t have enough lab models—called cancer cell lines—to fully study how the cancer behaves or how it becomes resistant to treatment.
One powerful way patients can help is by donating tumor tissue during a biopsy or surgery. That tissue can be used to grow RET-positive cancer cells in the lab, giving scientists tools to test new treatments and develop better, more personalized options. Thanks to the generosity of several RET patients, four new cancer cell lines are now being developed. If you’re a patient, talk to your care team about donating—your gift could move research forward and bring better treatments to others living with RET-driven cancer. (Source: The Happy Lungs Project)
Targeted Pill Delays Lung Cancer Return
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%.
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)
Three New Lung Cancer Treatments Show Promise
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
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)
MMRd Cancers Respond to Immunotherapy
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
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)
The Truth About Lung Cancer: It’s Not Just a Smoker’s Disease
Lung cancer continues to carry a painful stigma. Nearly 60% of patients say they’ve felt blamed or judged—by friends, family, or even medical professionals—because of the assumption that smoking caused their disease. But that’s not the full story. In fact, up to 20% of people diagnosed with lung cancer in the U.S. have never smoked, and more than half of all new cases occur in former smokers who quit years ago. Anyone with lungs can get lung cancer—and no one deserves to be blamed for it.
Stigma can do real harm. It’s been linked to higher rates of depression, delayed treatment, and reduced lung cancer screening, which can catch the disease early and save lives. Even those who want help quitting tobacco often avoid asking, fearing judgment. Thankfully, efforts are underway to shift the conversation. Clinicians, advocates, and researchers are working to reduce bias, improve communication, and build more inclusive cancer care. Learn more about what’s being done—and how we can all help change the narrative. (Source: Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center)
Hope for KRAS-G12D Lung Cancer
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.
The Immune System and Cancer Vaccines
One way our immune system protects us is by ridding our bodies of altered cells that could lead to cancer. But exactly how and when does our immune system sense cancer? How do tumors evolve to avoid being detected? And how can a better understanding of this process help develop better cancer treatments?
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) computational biologist Benjamin Greenbaum, PhD, is looking for answers to these important questions. He is the co-director of Neoantigen Discovery for The Olayan Center for Cancer Vaccines at MSK, a hub for cancer vaccine discovery and innovation. The center’s computational efforts, which have also received funding from The Tow Foundation and are led by Dr. Greenbaum, are essential to designing effective cancer vaccines.
The Latest Advances in Lung Cancer Treatment
In the article “The Latest Advances in Lung Cancer Treatment,” Abe Rosenberg highlights groundbreaking developments at City of Hope that are transforming the prognosis for lung cancer patients. Dr. Ravi Salgia, a leading oncologist at the institution, emphasizes a shift towards curative approaches even for advanced stages of the disease. The piece delves into innovative treatments such as targeted therapies that hone in on specific genetic mutations, immunotherapies that empower the immune system to combat cancer cells, and refined chemotherapy techniques that minimize harm to healthy tissue. These advancements collectively signify a new era in lung cancer care, offering renewed hope to patients and clinicians alike.
