6 Ways Science Is Shaping the Future of Cancer

After finishing a year of intensive treatment in December, Lori Stinnett was free of cancer—but not worry.

“You’re so closely monitored for all of these months and all of a sudden, poof! It’s done,” says Stinnett, who lives in Northern Virginia. “How are we making sure it doesn’t come back if there’s no MRI for six months? It’s a very scary thing.”

A simple blood test that detects cancer tumor DNA is already being used in cases like Stinnett’s to identify reoccurrence. Oncologists imagine a day when this noninvasive “liquid biopsy” could become a routine screening tool for multiple cancers. From game changers like this to tailored treatments and AI-driven applications, cancer experts envision a brighter future for cancer prevention, detection, and treatment. 

With so much about cancer still unknown, researchers often feel like they’re working in the dark, says Elizabeth Platz, ScD, MPH, a cancer epidemiologist and Epidemiology professor. Science and technological strides will elucidate some of those mysteries—and create better ways to reduce cancer cases and deaths. 

“Our strategies, maybe, give us a little more light,” she says.

Liquid biopsies will revolutionize screenings.

When it comes to cancer screening, liquid biopsies are generating much buzz. These blood tests are already being used for patients who are seeking assurance a cancer hasn’t returned, says Nickolas Papadopoulos, PhD, an oncology professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, who developed one of these tests. The blood tests can measure a potential rise in cancer DNA fragments, which cancer cells routinely shed as part of their lifecycle. Imaging is still necessary to confirm any findings and pinpoint a tumor’s location. 

As accuracy improves, Papadopoulos envisions a day when primary care visits include routine blood screenings for multiple cancers. Pancreatic and ovarian cancers usually appear with late-stage symptoms. Earlier detection of such cancers could lead to more effective treatments and better survival rates.

“It’s futuristic, but it’s happening: the tests are improving,” he says.

Scientists will investigate mysterious molecules. 

Experts anticipate more focus on the molecular workings of cancer, such as “the dark proteome.”

That’s an admittedly “cool-sounding” name for proteins that aren’t well understood but could play a key role in cancer development, explains William L. Dahut, MD, the American Cancer Society’s chief science officer. For example, some cancer cells have proteins that are not linked to DNA mutations, which could influence how the immune system finds and attacks them. More knowledge of the dark proteome could lead to better cancer treatments.

Expect more attention on alcohol.

Earlier this year, then-U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy warned that alcohol consumption is a risk factor for at least seven types of cancer. In coming years, alcohol’s cancer risk will likely receive greater scrutiny, possibly shifting societal behaviors, says Johannes Thrul, PhD, MS, a Mental Health associate professor who studies substance use. The pervasive myth that alcohol is good for you will likely recede, he says. 

Already, younger Americans are consuming less alcohol. Adults ages 18–34 who report ever drinking alcohol dropped from 72% to 62% over the past two decades, according to a 2023 Gallup poll.

The age when someone begins substance use is a key factor for developing long-term habits—which means the future will likely see fewer drinkers. An early marker of this shift: Restaurants and bars are offering more mocktails and nonalcoholic beers. 

Treatment will prioritize the personal.

Immunotherapy, which activates someone’s own immune system to recognize and destroy future cancer cells has been revolutionary, says School of Medicine Oncology Professor Cynthia Sears, MD. In the future, researchers will explore which factors could improve someone’s individual response to immunotherapy. For example, fecal transplants could adjust a cancer patient’s microbiome, creating a gut community able to enhance the response to immunotherapy drugs.  

Other treatment advances will also focus on precision, says Otis Brawley, MD, a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor in Oncology and Epidemiology. For tumor surgery, that may mean expanding robotic, minimally invasive surgery. For patients needing radiation, high-energy proton and carbon ion beams can offer a more targeted approach than ever before, reducing damage to healthy tissues and speeding treatment recovery.

AI will reshape the cancer continuum.  

AI has already improved accuracy in reading cancer-related imaging, such as flagging suspicious—but visually subtle—colon growths, Brawley says.

In rural and underserved areas with scarce cancer specialists, AI will increasingly be used to identify abnormal results. Providers can then send these images digitally to experts at cancer centers for additional review.

On the drug discovery side, AI will be used to identify new drug candidates and predict how these compounds will interact with the human body. Plus, the technology could assist researchers in analyzing vast patient datasets, detecting patterns and offering predictions on cancer progression and outcomes. 

Prevention will be the key strategy.

Amid all the excitement about emerging science and technology, though, the past offers important guidance, Brawley says. The country’s largest cancer reductions have involved prevention, from curtailing high-risk behaviors such as smoking to using the HPV vaccine to protect people from cervical cancer.

Prevention will be vital in addressing the troubling rise in colorectal cancer among younger people. In 2019, 1 in 5 cases of colorectal cancer in the U.S. were in people 54 years or younger—up from about 1 in 10 in 1995, according to an American Cancer Society report. Future research and public health efforts will focus on reducing risk factors ranging from physical inactivity and excess body weight to processed meat consumption and alcohol use—as well as less-understood factors such as the microbiome, antibiotic use, and microplastics.

“Looking off into the future, the part that everyone is interested in is all the molecular biology, the immunology, the treatments,” Brawley says. “But the majority of the reason for the mortality decline is prevention.”