Cancer research is an extremely broad topic covering many scientific disciplines including biology (e.g. biochemistry and signal transduction), chemistry (e.g. drug discover and development), physics (e.g. diagnostic devices) and even computer science (e.g. bioinformatics). Some would argue that cancer research will continue in much the same way as it is by adding further layers of complexity to the scientific knowledge that is already complex and almost beyond measure. But we anticipate that cancer research will undergo a dramatic paradigm shift due to the recent explosion of new discoveries in cancer biology. This review article focuses on the latest horizons in cancer research concerning cancer epigenetics, cancer stem cells, cancer immunology and cancer metabolism.