News archive

In a new study, researchers from Karolinska Institutet have shown that so-called interval cancers, which are detected between two screening sessions, account for a significant proportion of breast cancer cases and that certain risk factors may increase the likelihood of developing this type of cancer. The study was published in the journal JAMA Oncology.

Andri Papakonstantinou has been awarded the Pfizer and Swedish Society of Oncology’s (SOF) research scholarship in oncology for postdoctoral researchers in 2025. The scholarship was presented at SOF's annual meeting in Sundsvall on March 20th.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have investigated how well different AI models can predict the prognosis of triple-negative breast cancer by analysing certain immune cells inside the tumour. The study, published in the journal eClinicalMedicine, is an important step towards using AI in cancer care to improve patient health.

Svenska Läkaresällskapet (the Swedish Medical Society, SLS) has decided to award Jana de Boniface, adjunct professor at Karolinska Institutet and senior physician and surgeon at the surgery and oncology clinic, Capio St. Göran's Hospital, with their prestigious Jubilee Prize. The awardee is rewarded with SEK 175,000 and the SLS century medal in silver.

Although the incidence of cancer during pregnancy is increasing in Sweden, new studies from Karolinska Institutet show that women with breast cancer during pregnancy have good prognosis and low risks of adverse obstetric and perinatal outcomes.

Dose-dense adjuvant chemotherapy can improve survival for patients with high-risk breast cancer, according to researchers at Karolinska Institutet and others. The international PANTHER study, which included over 2000 patients where 97% had metastasis to the lymph nodes in the armpit, compared two different chemotherapy regimens and found that the dose-intensive treatment reduced the risk of recurrence and spread of the disease. The results are presented in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

A new study published in Nature Medicine shows that partic-ipating in an exercise program can reduce pain and fatigue, and improve the quality of life for individuals with metastatic breast cancer.

In a study published in Nature Communications, scientists have made significant strides in understanding the complex interplay between the immune system and cancer metabolism in breast cancer treatment. The research offers new insights into how the immune state and cancer metabolism evolve during neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC).

Ullakarin Nyberg is a researcher at the Center for Psychiatry Research at Karolinska Institutet. She also works clinically as a psychiatrist, part of the time at a unit for breast cancer patients. At the end of 2018, she contracted the disease herself.

Can breast cancer patients who exercise get better results from their chemotherapy? And if so, should they receive treatment that includes exercise? This will be investigated in an international study led by researcher Jana de Boniface.

It is difficult to draw firm conclusions about how to eat and drink to avoid breast cancer. Dietary studies often rely on self-reporting, while dietary habits change over the course of a lifetime - both of which are complicated for researchers. But one link is well documented: even moderate alcohol consumption increases the risk of developing the disease, says Professor Alicja Wolk.

There is a lot going on in breast cancer research. A new AI tool is trying to fine-tune the screening program, another is helping pathologists make diagnoses, and new drugs are being tested and approved. This could save more lives. But there is still no answer to the trickiest question of all: Why does breast cancer occur?

In recent years, the treatment landscape for solid tumors has undergone a notable change. With new cancer treatments, the future looks brighter for many young cancer patients, making fertility issues and future family planning an important aspect. Six specialists in oncology and onco-fertility at the Department of Oncology-Pathology join forces to compile knowledge and recommendations on this important issue.

An investigation conducted by researchers at Karolinska Institutet has led to a discovery in breast cancer diagnostics and treatments that could reshape screening programs and clinical approaches. The study, published in JAMA Oncology, unravels the impact of rare genetic variants on interval breast cancers, providing new insights into tailored screening strategies.

The use of AI makes it possible for women with a high risk of breast cancer to be identified in mammography screening examinations so that the cancer can be caught earlier. An international research group led from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden can now show that the method is effective in different European countries. The study is published in The Lancet Regional Health – Europe.

A new study from Karolinska Institutet published in Cell reports shows that tumor-associated macrophages, which are white blood cells that are found in breast tumors, can both help and hinder the spread of cancer cells to other organs. The researchers found that macrophages that produce a substance called VEGF-C reduce the spread of breast cancer to the lungs but increase the spread to the lymph nodes. This may have implications for the prognosis and treatment of breast cancer.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet and Kanazawa University in Japan have made a new discovery which could improve breast cancer treatments. The researchers studied cancer stem cells (CSCs), which can resist chemotherapy and form new tumors. They found a type of CSCs that are vulnerable to drugs that target a pump in the cells. These drugs could potentially kill these CSCs and help patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), a hard-to-treat form of breast cancer.

Women who receive a false positive mammography result are more likely to develop breast cancer over the subsequent 20 years, report researchers from Karolinska Institutet in a study published in JAMA Oncology. The risk is highest for women aged between 60 and 75 and who have low breast density.

A new thesis from Karolinska Institutet focuses on cancer prevention by investigating the factors and outcomes associated with false-positive mammography recalls, a fairly common event where women are called back for additional tests after an initial screening, but no cancer is detected during the follow-up. A second aim of the thesis was to further our understanding of the association between breast cancer risk factors in women and cancer risk among their relatives, particularly sisters.

One radiologist supported by AI detected more cases of breast cancer in screening mammography than two radiologists working together, reports the ScreenTrustCAD study from Karolinska Institutet in The Lancet Digital Health. The researchers say that AI is now ready to be implemented in breast cancer screening.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women and the likelihood of surviving the disease is higher if the cancer is detected early and the tumour is relatively small and not very aggressive.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer affecting women and many women are being treated to prevent the cancer from returning, for example with adjuvant hormone therapy. This therapy is prescribed as a once-a-day pill for estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer patients (around 80% of all cases) for a duration of at least five years.

While there are currently a dozen approved AI systems for breast cancer screening, it has been difficult to evaluate their clinical performance objectively. Now, however, there is a Swedish validation platform ready to compare how well AI systems detect signs of breast cancer – and its development has been led by researchers at Karolinska Institutet.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have developed a method that should be able to predict whether a patient with breast cancer will benefit from a particular treatment or not. The cell-based method has been tested on patients with promising results, according to a study published in PNAS.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer type in women globally, but there is a continuous decline in mortality rates. A partial explanation for this may be that effective treatments are being developed for subgroups of breast cancer patients. It is still challenging to optimise treatment plans for every individual.

Two researchers at Karolinska Institutet have been awarded the Athena prize for an AI-based image analysis in precision medicine for risk classification of breast cancer patients. The Athena Prize is Sweden's largest prize for research and innovations that have been produced through collaboration between healthcare, academia and industry.

Women with a breast cancer diagnosis undergoing procedures for fertility preservation are not at increased risk of recurrence of the disease or disease-specific mortality. This has been shown in a study by Karolinska Institutet that followed the participants for five years on average. The results, published in the journal JAMA Oncology, could in the future provide safety and new hope to women who want to preserve their fertility after cancer treatment with chemotherapy.

To investigate the long-term benefit of hormone-lowering treatment, researchers at Karolinska Institutet have done a 20-year follow-up of premenopausal women with breast cancer. The study, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, indicates that the treatment provides protection even after a longer period of time and that different patients seem to benefit from different hormonal treatments.

In a new thesis, Rickard Strandberg, PhD student at the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, lays the foundations for a new natural history model for breast cancer. By taking advantage of available detailed screening cohorts, Rickard’s work includes three diverse applications of this model.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have identified a protein that protects against breast tumour growth and that can be linked to a better prognosis in breast cancer patients. The results, which are published in the journal Nature Communications, may contribute to the development of new therapies for difficult-to-treat forms of breast cancer.

An international team of scientists, including from Karolinska Institutet, has discovered a means of identifying the risk of breast and ovarian cancer by analysing cell samples from the cervix. By measuring epigenetic changes in cervical samples from over a thousand women, the researchers have found two unique signatures for breast and ovarian cancer. The results are presented in two papers in the journal Nature Communications.

79 KI researchers have received a total of SEK 254,450,000 in grants from the Swedish Cancer Society. In addition, four Fellowship prevention grants were also awarded to researchers at KI. In total, the Swedish Cancer Society distributed SEK 850 million, which is the largest amount ever.

The Breast Cancer Association's award 2021 goes to chief physician and KI professor Per Hall. He is recognized for his broad research on how breast cancer can be prevented and detected early with refined and individual methods.

Congratulations to five researchers at the Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery who received funding from the Swedish Research Council within the field Medicine and Health at the dividend on October 28, 2021.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have developed an AI-based tool that improves the diagnosis of breast cancer tumours and the ability to predict the risk of recurrence. The greater diagnostic precision can lead to more personalised treatment for the large group of breast cancer patients with intermediate risk tumours. The results are published in the scientific journal Annals of Oncology.

A study involving researchers at Karolinska Institutet and University of Gothenburg has found that low levels of a protein called PDGFRb are associated with particularly good results of radiotherapy in women with early-stage breast cancer. The study, which is published in the journal Clinical Cancer Research, also suggests that the efficacy of radiotherapy can be improved with drugs that block this protein.

While the drug tamoxifen reduces the risk of developing breast cancer and prevents recurrence, the side-effects cause many women to discontinue their treatment. A study involving researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm has now found that a much lower dose than the standard produces a good effect with fewer adverse reactions in women who have yet to enter the menopause. The study, which has been published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, can play a significant role in the treatment.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet show how a certain type of immune cells, macrophages, can be recruited into breast cancer tumors, where they are reprogrammed to support and drive tumor growth. In a study published in the scientific journal PNAS, they describe that low levels of the tumor suppressor protein TAp73 lead to hyperactivation of NFkB signaling and an inflammatory condition in breast cancer as well as secretion of molecules that recruit tumor-promoting macrophages into the tumor.

KI is participating in a new EU project about using Real World Data (RWD) to improve post treatment in breast cancer, as well as shaping guidelines and best practices for researchers, public health and regulatory bodies throughout Europe to facilitate wider adaption of RWD in research and clinical practice.

One woman in eight develops breast cancer during her lifetime in the Western world and although mammography screening reduces mortality by early detection, approximately one fourth of the women who develop breast cancer are diagnosed within two years after a negative screen.

Hi there Maria Fjell, researcher at the Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet who recently defended her thesis “Supportive care for patients with breast cancer by using an interactive app during neoadjuvant chemotherapy – a Randomized Controlled Trial”. What’s the main focus of the thesis?

In her thesis, Shadi Azam studied the association between established breast cancer risk factors with mammographic density change over time and mammographic microcalcifications by using data from the prospective KARMA cohort.

Women with breast cancer whose eggs or ovarian tissue were frozen had more children after their diagnosis than women who did not undergo fertility preservation using those methods before start of cancer treatment. That is according to a study by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, published in JAMA Oncology. According to the researchers, the result highlights the importance of reproductive counseling and fertility preservation for women who are diagnosed with cancer at a young age.

A comprehensive comparison of cancer survival between the Nordic countries shows improvements for all countries over time with previously observed differences attenuated. The reasons for these improvements are likely multifactorial. Previous studies comparing cancer survival between the Nordic countries have found marked differences, with a notably poorer survival in Danish patients.

In his thesis, Emilio Ugalde Morales uses a molecular epidemiology approach to investigate the association between risk factors and aggressive breast cancer defined by tumor characteristics, intrinsic subtypes, mode of detection, and survival.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital in Sweden have compared the ability of three different artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to identify breast cancer based on previously taken mammograms. The best algorithm proved to be as accurate as the average radiologist. The results, published in JAMA Oncology, may lead the way in reorganising breast cancer screening for the future.

Some mammographic features - breast density, microcalcifications, and masses - are associated with increased breast cancer risk

Two new research programmes focusing on AI and bioelectronic medicine, for application in the areas of breast cancer and inflammatory disease, respectively, have been adopted at MedTechLabs. An interdisciplinary centre run by KTH, Karolinska Institutet and the Stockholm Region.

On Tuesday December 10, Gabriel Isheden will defend his thesis Statistical models of breast cancer tumour growth and spread".

Cells exposed to cancer-driving mutations respond by triggering a stress reaction called cellular senescence, which halts cell proliferation and thereby constitutes the major protective barrier to cancer. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have now discovered a previously unknown signaling pathway that controls cellular senescence in breast cancer.