As 2025 comes to an end, we’re looking back on what’s been a significant year for research.

From meeting our scientists in the Cancer Detectives: Finding the Cures documentary series to discovering new drug combinations to improve cancer treatment, there’s a lot to be proud of. 

To end the year right, we’ve gathered our most defining research stories of the year.

Exercise key to improving survival 

We know that exercise is great for our wellbeing and can even lower our cancer risk. This year, our researchers found evidence that exercise could also be a part of cancer treatment.  

The CHALLENGE CO 21 trial investigated whether exercise could help people stay cancer free after completing treatment for stage 2 and 3 colon cancer. Results showed that patients who were supported by a trainer to do a structured exercise routine after treatment were more likely to survive the disease than those who were only given standard health education materials. 

Overall, patients in the structured programme were 37% less likely to die in the eight years following their treatment.  

The trial didn’t directly explore the reasons as to why exercise had a positive effect on survival, but researchers believe it could be down to the role that physical activity plays in regulating hormones, reducing inflammation in the body and strengthening the immune system. 

“For an intervention that isn’t a drug, exercise offers remarkable benefits for patients,” said Professor Charles Swanton, our chief clinician. “For some people with colon cancer, physical activity can be a game-changer that shifts the course of their recovery.” 

• Read about the trial in full here  

Keeping the pressure on bowel cancer 

Colon cancer is a form of bowel cancer, which is the fourth most common cancer in the UK. It’s also the second biggest cause of cancer death in the UK. This year, we made one of our biggest investments yet to tackle the disease. 

In March, we committed £5.5m in funding to form CRC-STARS*, an ambitious consortium of international scientists which aims to develop precision medicine for bowel cancer. 

Precision medicine, which involves using detailed information about a person’s cancer to treat it, can be hugely powerful for improving cancer treatment and survival. In recent years, patients with certain cancers – like some BRCA breast cancers – have benefited from this approach, but development has been relatively slow for other common cancers, like bowel. 

The CRC-STARS* research initiative – which we funded with support from our partners, the Bowelbabe Fund for Cancer Research UK, philanthropic support from Bjorn Saven CBE and Inger Saven, and the Scientific Foundation of the Spanish Association Against Cancer (FCAECC) – will bring together 40 research experts from across the UK, Spain, Italy and Belgium to find kinder, better treatments for bowel cancer. 

The CRC-STARS team will look to understand why some bowel cancers spread, how different bowel cancers respond to current treatments, and whether they can predict which treatments will work for individual patients so that it can be treated in a more personalised way. 

• Read about CRC-STARS in detail here

Liver, breast and blood treatment breakthroughs 

We’ve also been exploring precision medicine as an approach to other cancers, like liver and breast.  

While most cancer types are seeing a decrease in death rates, our analysis indicates that liver cancer is becoming one of the fastest rising causes of cancer death. But this year, our researchers found an exciting way forward with a new drug combination. 

A study we co-funded with Wellcome found that a new combination of drugs was able to almost completely eradicate the most common form of liver cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, in lab models. 

Using genetic modelling from mice, the scientists found that a drug called cladribine notably reduced the number of tumours, and that it was most effective when combined with a drug called lenvatinib. This combination saw a complete eradication of almost all the tumours. 

And that’s not all the good news that’s emerged this year from trialling new drug combinations. 

Remarkably, our phase 3 PARTNER trial found that combining the targeted drug olaparib with chemotherapy before surgery was a safe and effective way of treating BRCA mutated breast cancers, with all 39 patients receiving the combination surviving three years after treatment. 

By administering olaparib 48 hours after each dose of chemotherapy, the researchers could safely combine the effects of the two therapies without causing significant side effects. 

Professor Jean Abraham, who led the trial at Addenbrookes Hospital, said: “We’re incredibly excited about the potential of this new approach, as it’s crucial that we find a way to treat and hopefully cure patients who are diagnosed with BRCA1 and BRCA2 related cancers.” 

• Read more about the PARTNER trial here 

Excitingly, our researchers even found a way to treat the most common type of leukaemia in adults without chemotherapy. In our FLAIR trial, scientists tested two targeted drugs for people with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL). 

After 5 years, 94% of people who received both drugs were alive with no progression of the disease, proving the new drug combination is far more effective than standard chemotherapy treatment – and could also spare some patients some of chemotherapies unpleasant side effects. 

Making strides in personalised treatment  

Despite the side effects, chemotherapy remains one of the best-established and effective cancer treatments, but it’s still crucial that research deepens our understanding of the best way to use it for different patients. 

Over at our Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, researchers have developed a new DNA test that predicts whether cancers will resist the three most common chemotherapy drugs. This means doctors can treat patients with the most effective therapy right from the start, with fewer side effects. 

Dr Iain Foulkes, our executive director of research and innovation, said: “The days of chemotherapy being offered as a ‘one-size-fits-all’ treatment are ending. Thanks to this research, and other research like it, we’re moving towards a future where personalised cancer treatment is a daily reality for patients.” 

•  Read the full story here 

While we’re on the topic of minimising unnecessary side effects, our PLATO-ACT4 clinical trial found a kinder and more targeted way of using radiotherapy to treat early-stage anal cancer, with results showing 98% survival in patients and fewer side effects than the traditional approach. 

Harnessing the power of liquid biopsies 

For doctors to determine the best personalised treatment for patients, they must find out more details about their cancer. Obtaining this information often involves surgery, which can be particularly difficult for the youngest cancer patients.  

That’s why liquid biopsies – which use bodily fluid samples like blood and urine for doctors to gain deeper genomic insight into a tumour – could be so important.  

We could see the implications of them soon too, thanks to a new blood test developed as part of our SMPaeds (Stratified Medicine Paediatrics) programme, co-funded with Children with Cancer UK. 

The test works like a high-tech fishing net, catching and analysing telltale scraps of DNA from small blood samples. This circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) can reveal useful clues about a cancer without doctors having to surgically extract it.  

The team are now looking to see if this extra information could help doctors find the best targeted drugs for young patients with a returning cancer. 

• Read more about this work here 

Another of our research teams made a discovery that could help make liquid biopsies much more powerful in the future. Professor Beth Psaila and her team at the University of Oxford discovered that platelets act like tiny sponges or hoovers, sucking up and storing any scraps of DNA that creep into the bloodstream. Crucially, that includes any DNA released by cancer cells. 

“Our study shows that we can use blood in a different way to pick up on cancers at their very earliest stages,” says Psaila. It’s early days, but this extra genetic information could help change the way liquid biopsies are done so they could pick up cancer in an earlier stage. 

Currently, we’re also using similar technology to understand and detect cancer just by looking at drops of tears and using temperature sensing patches on our skin. 

A glimpse into 2026

Our journey is far from over. Every piece of research we support has the potential to reach great heights and revolutionise how we prevent, detect and treat the disease.

Amal

*CRC-STARS: Colorectal Cancer — Stratification of Therapies through Adaptive Responses.