Research Radar

New PubMed studies on repurposed drugs and natural compounds in cancer — summarized in plain language and reviewed by a person before posting.

How to read this page. These studies are automatically collected from PubMed and summarized by AI from the abstract, then reviewed by a human before publishing. Each summary describes only what that study reported — most are early lab, animal, or small human studies, and findings often conflict. This is educational information, not medical advice, and not a recommendation to take anything. Always talk with your oncologist.

Topic tags. Each study is filed under its main topic. Anticancer studies are the default; these tags flag the other dimensions:

Safety — Safety & interactionsAbsorption (PK) — How it's absorbed (PK)Formulation — Formulation & deliverySupportive care — Symptom & supportive careMetabolism — Metabolism & pathwaysTrial — Clinical trialMechanism — Biomarker & mechanism

Showing studies that mention “squamous cervical carcinoma”.

Human onlyPositive outcomesSafety signalsTrials2 of 200 studies

Human · observationalReported positiveLimited evidenceTier 3 · early humann = 10

Real-world evidence of Trastuzumab Deruxtecan (T-DXd) Efficacy in HER2-expressing gynecological malignancies

BMC cancer · Dec 2024 · retrospective cohort

Trastuzumab-deruxtecan-t-dxd Trastuzumab-deruxtecanendometrial neoplasmsovarian neoplasmscervical neoplasmsuterine carcinosarcomauterine leiomyosarcomauterine serous carcinomaovarian carcinosarcomahigh-grade serous ovarian carcinomamucinous ovarian carcinomasquamous cervical carcinoma

This retrospective single-center study identified 10 patients with HER2-expressing (IHC 2+/3+) recurrent or metastatic gynecological cancers who received trastuzumab deruxtecan (5.4 mg/kg IV every 3 weeks). The cohort had a median progression-free survival of 5.4 months (95% CI 0.8-9.8). Five patients had a partial response, one had stable disease at 12 weeks, and four had disease progression at initial assessment. Clinical benefit was observed mainly in tumors with HER2 IHC 3+.

Reported effects: median PFS 5.4 mo [0.8–9.8], n=10 · partial responses 5, n=10 · +2 more

Key findings

10 patients with recurrent/metastatic HER2-expressing gynecological malignancies were treated with T-DXd.
Histologies included uterine neoplasms (n=5), cervical squamous carcinoma (n=1) and ovarian cancers (n=4).
Median age was 65.4 years (25th-75th percentile, 58.1-75.2 years).
HER2 by IHC: 5 patients were 3+ and 5 patients were 2+.
Median number of prior therapy lines was 4 (range 2-6); 2 uterine serous carcinoma patients were pretreated with trastuzumab and 4 patients had prior immunotherapy.
Dose: T-DXd 5.4 mg/kg IV every 3 weeks until progression/toxicity.
Median progression-free survival (PFS) in the cohort was 5.4 months (95% CI 0.8-9.8 months).
Responses: 5 patients had partial response (including 2 previously treated with trastuzumab), 1 patient had stable disease at 12 weeks, 4 patients had disease progression at initial assessment.
Most patients who derived clinical benefit had HER2 IHC 3+ expression.

Limitations: Retrospective, single-center design; Very small sample size (n=10); No control or comparator arm; Heterogeneous mix of gynecologic histologies; Heavily pre-treated population limits generalizability; Limited/absent reporting of safety or adverse event data in the abstract; Potential selection and reporting bias inherent to retrospective series.

AI summary of the abstract, human-reviewed · Jun 2026. Describes what this study reported, not medical advice. View on PubMed · Full text

Human · observationalMechanismReported positiveLimited evidenceTier 3 · early humann = 169

Progesterone receptor isoform B in the stroma of squamous cervical carcinoma: An independent favorable prognostic marker correlating with hematogenous metastasis

Taiwanese journal of obstetrics & gynecology · Nov 2024 · retrospective cohort study

squamous cervical carcinoma

This retrospective cohort study examined ERα, PR (A+B) and PRB expression in tumor and stromal compartments of 169 cervical carcinoma samples. Stromal PRB expression was associated with lower 5-year cancer mortality and with lower rates of hematogenous metastasis, and remained an independent predictor of lower 5-year mortality in multivariable analysis. Adding stromal PR or PRB to FIGO stage improved survival prediction accuracy.

Reported effects: stromal PRB association with 5-year mortality, p=0.011, n=169 · stromal ERα association with hematogenous distant metastasis rates, p=0.013, n=169 · +2 more

Key findings

ERα and PRs were predominantly expressed in the stromal compartment rather than within cervical cancer cells.
Stromal PRB expression significantly correlated with a lower 5-year mortality because of cervical cancer (p = 0.011).
Stromal ERα and PRB expressions correlated with lower hematogenous distant metastasis rates (p = 0.013 and p = 0.011, respectively).
In multivariable logistic regression analyses, stromal PRB independently conferred a lower risk of 5-year mortality (p = 0.022) regardless of age, histology, FIGO stage, tumor differentiation, lymphovascular space invasion, and lymphatic and hematogenous metastases.
Incorporation of stromal PR (A + B) and PRB expression into FIGO stage significantly enhanced the accuracy of survival prediction.

Limitations: Retrospective, observational single-center design; Correlative biomarker study that cannot establish causation; Potential subjectivity in immunohistochemical scoring by pathologists; No external validation cohort reported in the abstract; Abstract does not report effect sizes (HRs/ORs) or confidence intervals for the associations.

AI summary of the abstract, human-reviewed · Jun 2026. Describes what this study reported, not medical advice. View on PubMed