The AACR Annual Meeting 2026 featured a spectacular display of the progress that is being made against cancer due to your tremendous efforts. All of you—cancer researchers, clinicians, other health care professionals, survivors, and patient advocates—contributed your invaluable perspectives to a monumental demonstration of what science can achieve, especially when we work together.

Katerina A. Politi, PhD, identified takeaways emerging from presentations in basic and translational science, including that fundamental insights into cancer biology are revealing new strategies to treat cancer and overcome treatment resistance.

Andrew T. Chan, MD, MPH, chaired the session, which examined the rising incidence of early-onset cancers and the potential contributions of obesity, bacterial exposures, and weaning to this trend.

Katayoun Rezvani, MD, PhD, chaired the session, which shone a light on radiopharmaceuticals, next-generation biologics, and cellular immunotherapy as groundbreaking therapeutic modalities for cancer, with a focus on solid tumors.

Over the course of his address and fireside chat, Letai acknowledged that the past year has felt turbulent for many, but he said that the NCI is stable, its mission remains unchanged, and funding is strong.

The session spotlighted a human-sialidase-armed antitumor antibody, a novel CDK2 inhibitor, a molecular glue degrader, and a dual-payload antibody-drug conjugate.

Presenters described a first-in-class inhibitor of cyclin A/B-substrate interaction, a molecular glue degrader for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia, a novel antibody-drug conjugate, and a dual T-cell agonist selective for a specific T-cell subtype.

Omar Nadeem, MD, discussed results of the CAR-PRISM trial, which evaluated the use of ciltacabtagene autoleucel in patients with high-risk smoldering myeloma, an early, asymptomatic form of multiple myeloma.

Alberto Giovanni Leone, MD, shared results from cohort two of the single-arm, nonrandomized phase II INFINITY clinical trial assessing a combination treatment of two immune checkpoint inhibitors, tremelimumab and durvalumab.

Suchi Saria, PhD, reviewed her work adapting AI to use in real-world health care settings—a proposition that, she said, necessarily requires a rigorous approach to build trust, considering the high-stakes environment of direct patient treatment.