A new study has found that a combination of two drugs could enhance the immune system to treat one of the most common types of cancer in the world, bowel cancer. Also known as colorectal cancer, despite its widespread presence, the treatment options for this condition are limited. What the study specifically found was that this procedure could shrink the tumours caused by this condition by around 60%.

What Are The Drugs Involved

The trial involved the use of two immunotherapy drugs, botancilimab and balstilumab. It is a monoclonal antibody that works to stimulate the body's immune system to attack cancer. The study is a rather significant find, as it’s the first time that a consistent and durable response to immunotherapy has been reported in patients with solid MSS mCRC tumours.

The study was divided into several phases for more than 6 months. In the US trial, around around 101 patients with microsatile stable metastatic colorectal (MSS-mCRC) tumours showed a decrease . Around 61% of the patients experienced tumour shrinkage or stabilization after combined treatment with votancilumab and balstilumab. When it comes to downsides, diarrhea and fatigue were found to be the most common side effects or side effects of this drug.

These results are interesting and open to exploration. To date, immunotherapy has not been effective in patients with CNS-mCRC tumors. This study demonstrates the potential of the combination of botenlimab and balstilimab in the treatment of CNS mCRC, providing new hope for people diagnosed with colon cancer.

What Could This Mean For Bowel Cancer Treatment In The Future

The study is currently in the final stages of clinical trials, and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) hopes to quickly gain approval for its use because of the importance of this area that affects many people. The efficiency shown demonstrates the potential of botansilimab to contribute to broad antitumor immunity.

All in all, the combination of botensilimab and balstilimab represents a promising new direction in the treatment of colorectal cancer. This breakthrough could improve conditions for many patients worldwide and lights a new hope in the fight against this common disease. The results of this study show the effectiveness of immunotherapy in this field and how its potential to transform cancer treatment can only grow in the years to come.

A new experimental vaccine could offer protection against several forms of Streptococcus pneumoniae, showing promise for a future vaccine that will not have to fight each bacterial strain separately.

The bacterium, commonly called pneumococcus, can live in the nose and throat without causing any symptoms. But when the body's defenses are compromised and weakened, it can target other parts of the body and cause symptoms like pneumonia, meningitis, bloodstream infections and other serious diseases.

About The Study

One of the primary challenges of preventing these infections is that S. pneumoniae exists in more than 100 serotypes, or distinct versions of the bacterium. The current vaccines available to fight them only cover a selection of these types.

A new study published in Science Advances has found a different strategy. Instead of developing the vaccine around the sugar coating that differs between serotypes, researchers targeted proteins that is shared across pneumococcal strains.

Also read: H5N1 Detected In Captive Mink In US For First Time: Should You Be Concerned?

Current Pneumococcal Vaccines Have A Limitation

Existing pneumococcal vaccines work by instructing the immune system to recognise some components of the bacterium's outer shell.

Pneumococcal conjugate vaccines, or PCVs, combine these bacterial sugars with a carrier protein to produce a stronger immune response. Vaccines that target multiple serotypes have helped reduce invasive pneumococcal disease significantly.

But when vaccination reduces the prevalence of the serotypes that is included in a vaccine, other serotypes that are not covered can become more common. This phenomenon is known as serotype replacement.

Some of these replacement strains can also acquire antibiotic-resistance genes, which becomes another challenge.

This is why researchers have been exploring a vaccine that could provide protection across almost all pneumococcal serotypes, rather than having to continuously expand the list of strains covered.

Also read: Fall Vaccines 2026: US Doctors Issue COVID, Flu And RSV Jab Guidance

How Is The New Vaccine Developed?

Researchers opted for a reverse strategy to develop this universal vaccine. Instead of growing the bacterium and looking for useful components, researchers started with its genetic information.

They studied thousands of S. pneumoniae genomes to identify proteins that were conserved across different serotypes. The team looked for proteins that would:

• Be present on or accessible from the bacterial surface
• Be sufficiently different from human proteins
• Be capable of producing a strong immune response

From this analysis, researchers selected three proteins: zinc metalloprotease B (ZmpB), pneumococcal adherence and virulence factor A (PavA), and a YfhO-like protein.

These were combined with two immune-stimulating ingredients, CpG and chitosan, to create the experimental vaccine called ZPY-CpG-Ch.

Also read: 84% Cancer Patients Report Benefit From Ivermectin-Mebendazole: What The Study Found & Why More Trials Are Needed

Effects Of The Vaccine On Mice

Researchers tested the vaccine in both adult and mice to compare its performance with the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, PCV13.

In one experiment, vaccinated mice were exposed to serotype 1, a highly virulent strain of S. pneumoniae. The experimental vaccine produced 80% to 100% survival. The researchers also tested the vaccine against serotypes that are not covered by PCV13.

ZPY-CpG-Ch provided complete protection against serotypes 11A and 33F, while protection against serotype 8 was 50%.

The study found that the vaccine's protective effect was associated largely with a type of immune response that is be important in defense against pneumococcal infection.

The researchers also found that antibodies produced after vaccination could help kill pneumococci in laboratory experiments.

When these antibodies were transferred into unvaccinated mice, they provided protection against a lethal pneumococcal strain.

Despite the promising results, the researchers are not claiming that ZPY-CpG-Ch is ready for people.

The biggest limitation is that the work is still preclinical. The vaccine has been tested in mice but not in human clinical trials. The researchers also challenged the animals with only a small number of pneumococcal serotypes.

If the vaccine eventually proves to be safe and effective in humans, it could lead to wider protection against pneumococcal diseases.

A team of US scientists is beginning a human trial of a new form of proton therapy that could potentially deliver cancer-killing radiation in less than a second.

Known as FLASH proton therapy, the treatment requires fewer sessions — just five over about 10 days — and could potentially reduce the risk of treatment-related side effects.

FLASH Proton Therapy: The First Human Trial

The Phase I clinical trial at the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania represents the first time the “conformal,” or precise 3D-targeting, version of the technique is being tested in human patients in the United States.

According to the University, the study will enroll 10 patients with recurrent head and neck cancer who have previously received radiation treatment and are not candidates for surgery.

Patients with recurrent head and neck cancer typically face a difficult prognosis. While radiation therapy can help treat the cancer, it can also cause side effects in areas involved in important functions such as eating, drinking and swallowing.

Patients in the trial will receive FLASH proton therapy five times in total, with each exposure lasting less than a second. They will complete all five sessions in less than two weeks.

Penn Medicine recently completed a FLASH proton therapy clinical trial in pet dogs with cancer. The canine study used the same technology for head and neck cancer that will be used in the human trial.

How Does FLASH Proton Therapy Work?

Proton therapy is an advanced form of radiation therapy that uses high-energy protons, or positively charged particles, to damage the DNA of cancer cells and destroy them.

Conventional radiation therapy is typically delivered in smaller doses, or fractions, over several weeks to target the tumour while limiting exposure to healthy tissue.

For patients with head and neck cancer, this typically means 25–35 radiation fractions, delivered once a day, five days a week, over five to six weeks.

Constantinos Koumenis, Professor of Radiation Oncology at Penn Medicine, explained that FLASH uses a larger dose and reduces the amount of time the patient is exposed to radiation.

The total effective radiation dose remains the same, but it is divided into fewer fractions, with each delivered in a large, lightning-fast dose.

What Is ConformalFLASH Proton Therapy?

The type of FLASH proton therapy being tested in this clinical trial is known as ConformalFLASH proton therapy.

The Penn clinical trial is designed to test the safety and feasibility of the approach. Researchers hope it could improve patients’ quality of life by reducing the time they spend in hospitals and travelling for treatment.

If successful, the approach could be expanded to other cancer types and studied in larger Phase II and Phase III clinical trials focused on treatment outcomes, the researchers said.

H5N1 avian influenza has been detected in captive mink on a US farm for the first time, raising concerns among scientists about the virus's potential to adapt to mammals as well as humans.

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported that “H5N1 was detected in at least six mink on a farm in Utah in mid-August".

The detection comes as H5N1 continues to circulate widely among birds and has infected numerous mammal species in recent years, more recently in Australia. Scientists are particularly watching the virus's behavior in mammals because some species can support viral replication and, under certain circumstances, transmission between animals.

Why H5N1 In Mink Matters

Mink are closely watched by virologists because they are susceptible to respiratory viruses and can transmit some viruses between animals.

Mink farms can also house thousands of animals in close proximity, potentially creating conditions in which respiratory viruses can spread and evolve.

Dr Tom Peacock, a virologist at The Pirbright Institute, told The Telegraph that avian influenza viruses generally replicate poorly in humans and do not currently have the properties needed for efficient person-to-person transmission.

He said H5N1 would need to undergo significant changes to cause a human pandemic, but farmed mink could provide conditions that may favor the evolution of the virus.

Also read: H5 Bird Flu Spreads To Australian Mammals: Is It Nearing Humans?

Mink Have Raised Pandemic Concerns Before

In 2022, an H5N1 outbreak at a mink farm in Galicia, Spain, infected more than 50,000 animals. It provided the first documented evidence of mammal-to-mammal transmission of H5N1.

Mink also drew attention during the COVID-19 pandemic, when mutated SARS-CoV-2 variants were detected on fur farms in several European countries.

Denmark reported infections among farm workers with a SARS-CoV-2 strain that had emerged in mink.

Could H5N1 Spread From Mink To Humans?

The detection of H5N1 in US mink does not mean that the virus is currently spreading efficiently between humans or that a pandemic is underway.

The key concern is whether H5N1 could acquire genetic changes that make it better adapted to mammals and, ultimately, capable of sustained human-to-human transmission.

So far, health authorities continue to assess the risk to the general public as low.

How Many Humans Have Been Infected?

Read More: H5N1 Bird Flu Reaches New Zealand; 12 Human Infections Reported Worldwide

While human H5N1 infections remain rare, the virus can cause severe illness when transmission from infected animals to people occurs.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 993 human cases of avian influenza were reported across 25 countries between January 2023 and December 2025, with 477 deaths.

The reported cases largely involved people with known or suspected exposure to infected animals.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported in June that it had identified 12 human H5N1 infections outside the US between August 4, 2025, and June 10, 2026. The cases were reported in Bangladesh, Cambodia and India.

Three of the 12 infections were fatal—one in Bangladesh and two in Cambodia. Cambodia's Ministry of Health also confirmed its fifth human H5N1 infection of 2026 on July 9, involving a 9-month-old girl from Phnom Penh.

Importantly, the CDC said no person-to-person transmission had been identified in these cases. Most infections occurred following direct or close contact with infected poultry or other sick animals.

Why Surveillance Matters

H5N1 continues to circulate widely among wild birds and poultry, creating repeated opportunities for the virus to infect mammals.

Recent mammal infections—including those reported in Australia—highlight the importance of monitoring how the virus behaves when it crosses into different animal species.

The CDC has stressed the importance of strong surveillance, testing and preparedness as sporadic human infections continue to occur.

The emergence of H5N1 in mink therefore warrants close monitoring—but it is not evidence that the virus has acquired efficient human-to-human transmission.