Keyword: Cancer research

Top-level skin cancer research acknowledging the individuality of cancer is conducted in Turku. In the studies, the characteristics of cancer are examined at the level of tracers and molecules. This opens up the opportunity to tailor the most suitable treatment for each patient. The studies are rewarding for both the researchers and the research subjects. At best, patients with advanced skin cancer benefit from the new medicinal products used in trials long before these products are in commercial use.

University of Turku Professors Johanna Ivaska and Lauri Nummenmaa have received significant research funding from the European Research Council ERC. Ivaska received funding for a project that aims to discover how the biological limits of a healthy body influence cancer progression. Nummenmaa’s project examines the link between a person’s negative emotions and their physical well-being.

Researchers at the University of Turku have uncovered how the new bexmarilimab therapy alters the function of immune cells so that they can infiltrate the tumour in cancer patients who do not respond to any other current therapies.

Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC), also known as the squamous cell carcinoma of the skin, is the most common form of metastatic skin cancer. The incidence of cSCC is increasing worldwide with millions of new cases diagnosed each year. The prognosis of metastatic cSCC is poor as there are currently no effective targeted treatments available. New study conducted at the University of Turku, Finland, shows that plixorafenib, a new drug developed for treating melanoma and lung cancer, can also stop the progression of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma.

This year, the Elias Tillandz Prize was awarded to two outstanding research articles, which involved a mechanism related to the migration of cancer cells and a new analysis of a grave dating back to the early Middle Ages. The Prize was awarded to the researchers at the BioCity symposium on Thursday, 24 August 2023.

Researchers have found a possible explanation as to why higher breast density and older age increase the risk of breast cancer.

Folate-based radiopharmaceuticals can be used in positron emission tomography (PET) imaging to detect folate receptors in brain tumours. The discovery of folate receptors and their exploitation potential with respect to brain tumours is a new and significant finding in the field.

Two new Finnish studies show that short bouts of light or moderate exercise can increase the number of immune cells in the bloodstream of cancer patients.

An international team of researchers has discovered how the so-called tertiary lymphoid-like structures can help the human immune defence to find cancer cells and destroy them. Researchers from the InFLAMES research flagship of the University of Turku, Finland, participated in the study and the research article was published in the esteemed Cancer Cell journal.