The Cancer Advisor

Lung cancer remains one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths worldwide, but 2025 has brought remarkable progress in immunotherapy, transforming treatment landscapes for both non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and small cell lung cancer (SCLC). Drawing from recent clinical trials, conferences like ASCO, AACR, and ELCC, and emerging real-world data, this guide highlights key breakthroughs. We'll focus on evidence-based advances, including checkpoint inhibitors, combination therapies, novel vaccines, and targeted immunotherapies, with practical insights for patients and caregivers. Immunotherapy Fundamentals in Lung Cancer Immunotherapy harnesses the body's immune system to target cancer cells, often via checkpoint inhibitors like PD-1/PD-L1 blockers (e.g., pembrolizumab, nivolumab). In 2025, these are increasingly combined with chemotherapy, targeted drugs, or other modalities for better outcomes. For NSCLC, which accounts for about 85% of cases, immunotherapy has beco...

Abstract Background: Metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (mTNBC) is an aggressive malignancy with poor prognosis. Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have improved outcomes but remain limited. Repurposing antiparasitic agents ivermectin and mebendazole, supplemented by vitamin D3 and high-bioavailable curcumin, may enhance antitumor immunity and survival. Methods: We simulated a double-blind randomized controlled trial (RCT) enrolling 10,000 mTNBC patients (5,000 per arm) over 5 years. Experimental arms received high-dose ivermectin, mebendazole, pembrolizumab or balstilimab, vitamin D3 (5,000 IU daily), and high-bioavailable curcumin; controls received ICIs alone. We modeled three improvement scenarios including optimized antiparasitic dosing, dual checkpoint blockade with tumor microenvironment (TME) modulators, and biomarker-guided patient selection plus enhanced supportive care. Efficacy endpoints included objective response rate (ORR), progression-free survival (PFS), ove...

Twice, Jim Mann survived aggressive melanoma, which quickly kills most people. Surgery in 2016 to remove a large spot on his head—along with lymph nodes, some under his skull—was sufficient to put Mann into remission, surprising doctors who expected to find the cancer had spread throughout his body. Eighteen months later, follow-up testing on a mass he found revealed eight tumors throughout his body. However, two months into his two-year immunotherapy treatment protocol, the tumors disappeared. His immune system, which he described as good before his diagnosis, responded robustly to treatment. By then, he had also quit eating sugar, minimized stress, and joined a support group. “I shouldn’t have lived more than a month or two, based on how big the melanoma was, but I’m glad they didn’t tell me that at the beginning,” Mann told The Epoch Times. “The fact that they were shocked every time they saw me was unnerving, but great at the same time.” Under ideal conditions, the immune system is...

It began during a card game in 1995. As Professor Ben Williams won poker hand after hand against his UCSD colleagues, he proudly arranged his chips in neat stacks to his right. To his left, a heaping pile of unruly chips was the first sign of his lurking, yet undiagnosed brain cancer. This was followed by problems with walking, parking his car, and other perceptual issues involving left-sided neglect, signs characteristic of stroke or brain injury. Right-sided brain lesions produce a condition where a person becomes strangely unaware of their left side. In Ben Williams’ case, it reflected brain cancer of the worst kind, a tumor known as Glioblastoma Multiforme [GBM], one with an average survival of little more than one year. After a March 30, 1995, MRI scan revealed the cancer that occupied his right parietal lobe, his Oncologist candidly told Ben that he would be lucky to survive 18 months even if he did everything right - that is if he dutifully followed all medical advice in receivi...