Cancer

Find out everything there is to know about cancer and stay updated on the latest cancer research with the comprehensive articles and informative features at LiveScience.com. Learn more about this potentially fatal disease as scientists and doctors continue to make amazing discoveries about cancer.

Related Topics: DNA and Genes, Endocrine System, Immune System, Medicine

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An ant drinking water pooling on a leaf.

Ants can detect the scent of cancer in urine

By Jennifer Nalewicki published

Ants use their antennae to sniff out cancer

illustration depicts close up of two cancer cells, in red, growing atop a tissue depicted in blue

Some cancer cells grow stronger after chemo. Research hints at how to kill them.

By Chengsheng Wu published

New research hints at why some cancer cells develop drug resistance, and how to kill them.

photo of a young smiling girl wearing black-framed glasses and holding a blue teddy bear while sitting up in a hospital bed

A teen's cancer is in remission after she received new cells edited with CRISPR

By Nicoletta Lanese published

A young girl entered remission after receiving an experimental cancer treatment.

illustration of several cancer cells in a clump

Woman diagnosed with 12 tumors in her lifetime has a never-before-seen genetic mutation

By Nicoletta Lanese published

A woman who's incredibly prone to tumors carries an unusual genetic mutation.

Illustration of bacterial cells, specfically those of Morganella morganii, which look like pill-like pellets; the cells are depicted in blue and the background is red

DNA-damaging gut bacteria may fuel colon cancer in patients with inflammatory bowel disease

By Nicoletta Lanese published

Certain gut bacteria may explain the link between inflammatory bowel disease and colon cancer.

illustration of Candida fungi, a type of yeast

Fungi grow inside cancerous tumors, scientists discover

By Nicoletta Lanese last updated

Scientists found fungus in different types of tumors.

An adenocarcinoma (one of the deadliest cancers that starts in the mucus cells of an organ) of the exocrine pancreas.

The 10 deadliest cancers, and why there's no cure

By Ashley P. Taylor last updated

reference Here's a look at the cancers with the poorest rate of survival, and the reasons why.

an illustration of a G-Quadruplex, a type of weird knot DNA can fold itself into

Bizarre knotted DNA structures linked to cancer in mice

By Nicoletta Lanese published

Missing enzymes may cause troublesome knots to appear in DNA.

Tumor cells can be seen in a matrix of a certain kind of collagen that allows them to proliferate

Dormant cancer cells may 'reawaken' due to change in this key protein

By Rebecca Sohn published

Cancer cells can lie dormant for years and then suddenly start spreading.

A cancer patient and her doctor sitting at a table as they go over information on a tablet.

What is cancer?

By Jennifer Welsh published

Cancer malignancies are uncontrolled growths that spread. Learn how cancers form, the signs and symptoms of cancer and how cancers are treated.

close-up of cancer cells

Antibiotics may raise colon cancer risk, massive study suggests

By Nicoletta Lanese published

This is the largest epidemiological study to assess this potential risk.

Chernobyl nuclear reactors.

Chernobyl's liquidators didn’t pass on radiation damage to their children

By Stephanie Pappas published

Exposure to Chernobyl radiation increased the risk of thyroid cancer by breaking DNA strands, but the effects didn't carry to the next generation.

Timothy Ray Brown at a press conference to announce the launch of the Timothy Ray Brown Foundation on July 24, 2012 in Washington, DC.

Timothy Ray Brown, 1st person cured of HIV, dies after cancer relapse

By Nicoletta Lanese published

He was cured of HIV while receiving cancer treatment over a decade ago.

A woman receiving intravenous chemotherapy treatment.

What is chemotherapy?

By Isobel Whitcomb published

Chemotherapy has been widely used for treating cancer but it's side effects can be severe.

Energy drinks

This woman was in hospice for cancer. Energy drinks nearly killed her.

By Laura Geggel published

She improved after cutting the energy drinks out of her diet.

Patient receiving radiation therapy

Future 'Flash' Radiation Therapy Could Treat Cancer in Milliseconds

By Nicoletta Lanese published

An emerging cancer therapy could someday shorten the time patients spend in treatment and improve their overall outcomes.

A hardened skin growth on a man's back

5-Inch-Long 'Dragon's Horn' Grows from Man's Back

By Mindy Weisberger last updated

The enormous growth began as a lesion that steadily expanded over several years.

This image taken by a scanning electron microscope shows chromosomes (blue arrow) and ring-shaped DNA (orange arrow)

'Doughnut-Shaped' DNA Makes Cancer More Aggressive

By Yasemin Saplakoglu published

"DNA conveys information not only in its sequence but also in its shape," the authors said.

A real and deadly disease may have inspired the symptoms described in novels about vampires.

Bram Stoker's Vampire Victim Shows 'Textbook' Leukemia Symptoms

By Mindy Weisberger last updated

Symptoms of acute leukemia resemble depictions of people suffering from vampire attacks in popular gothic novels.

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg poses for the official photo at the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 30, 2018.

Ruth Bader Ginsberg Just Completed Another Cancer Treatment, and She's Good to Go.

By Kimberly Hickok published

This isn't the first time the "Notorious RBG" has bounced back from health scares.