Aiming to improve cancer prevention, ESMO calls for strong policy measures to fight the tobacco epidemic

 The European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) recently submitted its response to the European Union in regards to the Tobacco Products and Tobacco Advertising directives.  As per ESMO, "up to 40% of all cancers are preventable...robust tobacco cessation policies are among the most effective strategies for reducing the risk of cancer, improving human health, and reducing cancer cases."  According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), 7 000 000 million people worldwide die from tobacco use each year (700,000 deaths in Europe alone), contributing to 25% of all cancer-related deaths.  

Click here to read the full ESMO report. 

Blood test may help identify which colorectal cancer patients with liver metastases are most likely to benefit from chemotherapy after surgery

Research recently present at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Gastrointestinal Cancers Congress in Munich, Germany, indicates that a blood test may identify colorectal cancer patients which has metastasized to the liver and thus "most likely to benefit from chemotherapy after surgery."   Known as GALAXY, the joint phase II study between researchers and collaborations from Hyogo Medical University in Japan and the University of Oxford determined that "among patients with detectable ctDNA who underwent upfront surgery, those who received adjuvant chemotherapy had substantially better outcomes...[with] a markedly lower risk of cancer recurrence and death, including a 93% reduction in the risk of recurrence." 

To learn more about the GALAXY study, click here. 

Sources mentioned: 

1. 8O“ctDNA status and adjuvant chemotherapy after resection of colorectal liver metastases: an overall survival analysis of the GALAXY study” will be presented by Koza Kataoka during Proffered Paper session on Friday, 3 July, 16:30-18:00 CEST, in Room 14
2. Bray F, Laversanne M, Sung H, et al. Global cancer statistics 2022: GLOBOCAN estimates of incidence and mortality worldwide for 36 cancers in 185 countries. CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. 2024;74(3):229–263.
3. Folkerts AD, Janczewski LM, Merkow RP, et al. Liver-directed therapies for colorectal liver metastases. Cancer. 2025;e70097.
4. Kataoka K, Mori K, Nakamura Y, et al. Survival benefit of adjuvant chemotherapy based on molecular residual disease detection in resected colorectal liver metastases: subgroup analysis from CIRCULATE-Japan GALAXY. Annals of Oncology. 2024;35(11):1015–1025.