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Prof. Fabrice André sees the journal, which has become one of the most cited oncology publications, as an opportunity to help more doctors improve patient outcomes with new technologies.

While mature data from trials have demonstrated that periodic rounds of low-dose CT scan reduce lung-cancer related mortality, major issues are now implementation of screening on a large-scale and how to engage the target population 

New insights into breast cancer immunology and genomics support further segmentation of patient subgroups and treatment approaches, says Prof. Sherene Loi 

Despite early promises, advances are needed in targeting tumour-specific epitopes, overcoming the tumour microenvironment, and automating CAR-T production, explains Prof. Ulrike Köhl 

Efficacy of targeted therapies has enabled unprecedented survival gains in the last few years, but Prof. Jean-Charles Soria believes overcoming drug resistance is likely to be a local battle fought in the tumour microenvironment 

Tumour evolution is one of the primary reasons for resistance to treatment and researchers are now learning how to use it to lead tumours down a dead end

Trastuzumab has transformed the prognosis for women with HER2+ breast cancer. On the occasion of the ESMO Breast Cancer Virtual Congress 2021, leading oncology experts recall with enthusiasm the pioneering work of researchers like José Baselga in this field and push for continuous research to investigate how to further improve the treatment of this cancer sub-type

Despite alternative modes of administering anticancer medicines have reinforced the idea that at-home cancer care may be sometimes feasible as well as preferred by patients, there are concerns about costs of and accessibility to these new opportunities. 

At an ESMO Live Roundtable, a panel of experts discussed the benefits and risk of COVID-19 vaccination in patients with cancer, the practicalities of vaccinating those undergoing immunosuppressant treatment and the potential advantages and disadvantages of flexible dosing intervals.

However, researchers’ concerns about missing opportunities to publish their real-world evidence-based papers in high-ranked scientific journals are justified to some extent due to lack of ‘best practices’ from publishers and suitable peer reviewers for these study designs

Medical oncologists have traditionally played a marginal role in helping drive the adoption of preventive lifestyles, “but now it is time to strengthen our commitment” says ESMO President

Promising results with cancer vaccines based on specific antigen mutations in individual tumours, and typically used in combination with checkpoint inhibitors, are fuelling an upsurge of interest in cancer vaccination for patients with established cancer, explains Prof. Pedro Romero. 

According to Prof. Urania Dafni, high quality real-world evidence can provide broader information and more generalisable conclusions to verify the clinical applicability of evidence from RCTs 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, real-world data have shown they can support clinical decision-making in complex situations but extensive bureaucracy is still a limiting factor

While locally tailored cancer screening programmes, particularly for cervical cancer, are showing encouraging results in some areas with limited resources, cancer care is still suffering some bottlenecks due to lack of training for healthcare staff and shortages of medicines

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