ASCO 2025: Diet and Colon Cancer, Improving Prostate Cancer Treatment and Liquid Biopsies Target Breast Cancer

Written by: Tim Gunn & Amal Iman (31 May 2025)

Summarized by: Vinh-Khoa Bao

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Diet, Exercise, & Colon Cancer Recurrence

• An important study at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) presented

  several pieces of evidence that regular exercise greatly reduces recurrence risk for colon cancer. 

• Another study from a team in the United States focused on dietary inflammation. Pro-inflammatory diets, which are rich in red/processed meat, refined grains, and sugary drinks, were linked to increased chronic inflammation. On the other hand, anti-inflammatory diets, which include foods such as coffee, tea, leafy greens, nuts, and fatty fish, didn’t significantly impact recurrence risk but were associated with improved overall survival. 

Prostate Cancer: AI- Guided Treatment Selection

• Researchers unveiled an AI-powered test derived from the STAMPEDE trial. The AI-powered test identifies which men with high-risk prostate cancer actually need abiraterone, a treatment that’s extremely costly and has negative side effects.

• This AI model was able to spare roughly 75% of patients from abiraterone, limiting unnecessary treatment and its financial burden on the National Health Service (NHS).

Liquid Biopsies in Breast Cancer

• NHS England launched a rollout of liquid biopsy blood tests similar to ASCO 2025. These liquid biopsy blood tests detect circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA), allowing for earlier and less invasive detection of relapse or treatment response in breast cancer. 

• These tests could speed up targeted therapy decisions and reduce reliance on more invasive and potentially dangerous procedures.

Immunotherapy Advances in Head & Neck Cancer

• The Keynote-689 trial demonstrated that adding an immunotherapy drug called pembrolizumab after standard therapy in head and neck cancer reduced recurrence risk by 10% at 3 years.

• Pembrolizumab also reduced the risk of the cancer spreading to other parts of the body and prevented new cancers from growing.

Possible Implications for Patients & Healthcare

• Prostate cancer treatment can be optimized using AI tools to avoid unnecessary drug exposure and negative side effects.

• Breast cancer monitoring can increasingly rely on liquid biopsies to streamline care.

• Clinicians should consider exercise routines and anti-inflammatory diet plans as a part of patient care. 

Conclusion 

ASCO 2025’s Cancer Research UK highlights an important transformation in cancer care, as lifestyle medicine, accurate diagnostics, and intelligent therapy selection improves outcomes. Innovations such as utilizing AI or liquid biopsies are progress towards more effective and less dangerous cancer care.

Work Cited

Gunn, Tim, and Amal Iman. “ASCO 2025: diet and colon cancer, improving prostate cancer treatment and liquid biopsies target breast cancer.” Cancer Research UK - Cancer News, 31 May 2025, https://news.cancerresearchuk.org/2025/05/31/asco-2025-updates/. Accessed 14 July 2025.