The EACR’s ‘Highlights in Cancer Research’ is a regular summary of the most interesting and impactful recent papers in cancer research, curated by the Board of the European Association for Cancer Research (EACR).
The list below appears in no particular order, and the summary information has been provided by the authors unless otherwise indicated.
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Pandya, Tej et al. Cell. 189 (13): 3903-3921.e26. (2026).
doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2026.05.005
Summary of the findings
Eligibility for lung cancer screening currently rests on age and smoking history, missing many future cases. Normal lung tissue already harbours cells carrying oncogenic mutations, but what promotes these cells to initiate cancer remains unknown.
We applied machine learning to plasma proteomics from 48,099 UK Biobank participants and identified fourteen proteins that predict lung cancer more than five years before diagnosis. The signature replicated across eight cohorts, including in a Taiwanese screening trial of never-smokers.
Mouse models revealed the cellular basis of the signature. In EGFR-mutant lungs, basal, club, neuroendocrine and AT2 lineages were each competent to initiate adenocarcinoma, converging on a keratin-8+ tumour-promoting alveolar transitional state. Components of the signature are expressed by healthy lung epithelial and myeloid cells and rise in response to tumour promoters such as air pollution and IL-1β, indicating that the signal arises from a tumour-promoting state.
Re-analysis of the CANTOS trial, where canakinumab, an anti-IL-1β monoclonal antibody reduced lung cancer incidence found that individuals with high baseline signature derived the greatest benefit from the therapeutic, lowering the number needed to treat from 1,516 to 55.
Future impact
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