Billions of dollars, the world’s most powerful research tools, from artificial intelligence and genetic testing to targeted therapy, and a cure still haven’t appeared. This sometimes makes you wonder why the disease Cancer is so persistently defying modern methods of battling against it. Let us find out:
But cancer is not that one disease, but hundreds of different diseases that we call “cancer.” Consider it like this:If your house is infested with lots of various kinds of pests, say in the kitchen ants, in the walls termites, and in the attic mice. You can’t use just one treatment to eliminate them; you need different approaches for each. Such is Cancer!Breast cancer is nothing like lung cancer; blood cancer is not like brain cancer, and so on. Even breast cancer itself does not even come out the same in two people. According to the National Cancer Institute, there are at least 21 categories.Another tricky thing about cancer is that it grows from our cells. It’s different from any virus or bacteria entering our body from outside. Cancer begins when our normal cells get wrong. This makes it challenging to distinguish healthy cells from cancerous cells; it’s like looking for a criminal who may look just the same as many people in the crowd.
Cancer cells are intelligent. In 2022, Nature published that cancer cells can alter their behavior and DNA makeup to avoid being treated. It was a little like a thief changing costumes to hide his identity. He may dress up as a policeman one day and as a teacher the next day so they can’t identify and arrest him.Some cancer cells can even masquerade as normal cells, hiding from our immune system behind a kind of “mask.” They also produce a protective shield that prevents cancer drugs from reaching them. This is why treatment may work for several months only to fail afterward.The American Cancer Society recognizes 211 types of cancer and sometimes subtypes of subtypes. We must have different treatments for different cancers. For instance, a drug that works for melanoma may be entirely useless for pancreatic cancer.Let anyone think that all cancers are one; former National Cancer Institute Director Dr. Harold Varmus has noted: “Cancer is not one disease but rather a group that shares some characteristics. Hence, doctors today discuss terms such as ‘‘targeted’ or ‘‘individualized’’ treatment. In principle, they look for specific treatment regimens for particular forms of a specific cancer in an individual patient.Of course, money is involved in cancer research. But to think that even if we take the whole of Africa and give it for free to researchers to get to us, it is still not enough money is preposterous. The NIH recommended budget for the National Cancer Institute for the coming financial year 2023 was $7.1 billion. At the same time, pharmaceutical product manufacturers spend half a trillion dollars more. However, it takes approximately 115 years on average for a newly developed cancer drug to secure approval and costs approximately, according to the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development.Think about constructing a huge jigsaw. The more monetary contribution you have, the more pieces will be available and the more individuals will be available to help, but then again, there is time to figure out the pieces and the best way to complete the puzzle.What do scientists use to combat this deadly disease?Here are seven technologies. For instance, CAR T-cell therapy first got FDA approval in 2017, whereby doctors modify a patient’s immune system to identify cancer cells in order to fight them. It’s like training your body’s natural soldiers to recognize the enemy better.Artificial intelligence is helping doctors learn to look at medical images to predict which treatments might work best for a patient. According to a Science report in 2023, AI sometimes spots cancer in mammograms that doctors might miss.As for the CRISPR gene edit, which won the Nobel Prize in 2020, the same ideas were attempted as a tool to correct the defective genes that would cause cancer. But these are pretty new technologies, and we need more time to understand how to use them safely and correctly.We are still to have a cure for all types of cancer; this is a humbling fact. However, we have made tremendous progress in this concept. This should come in handy in shoring up support for what the American Cancer Society says is a 33 percent drop in cancer mortality in the US since 1991. There are more patients alive today who could otherwise have been dead from cancer within the past decades.New therapies, including immunotherapy and targeted drugs, cause many more patients to live longer and better. For example, what were once considered death warrants for many patients are now possible to treat effectively certain forms of melanoma.
What makes cancer incurable?
But cancer is not that one disease, but hundreds of different diseases that we call “cancer.” Consider it like this:If your house is infested with lots of various kinds of pests, say in the kitchen ants, in the walls termites, and in the attic mice. You can’t use just one treatment to eliminate them; you need different approaches for each. Such is Cancer!Breast cancer is nothing like lung cancer; blood cancer is not like brain cancer, and so on. Even breast cancer itself does not even come out the same in two people. According to the National Cancer Institute, there are at least 21 categories.Another tricky thing about cancer is that it grows from our cells. It’s different from any virus or bacteria entering our body from outside. Cancer begins when our normal cells get wrong. This makes it challenging to distinguish healthy cells from cancerous cells; it’s like looking for a criminal who may look just the same as many people in the crowd.How do cancer cells outsmart us?
Cancer cells are intelligent. In 2022, Nature published that cancer cells can alter their behavior and DNA makeup to avoid being treated. It was a little like a thief changing costumes to hide his identity. He may dress up as a policeman one day and as a teacher the next day so they can’t identify and arrest him.Some cancer cells can even masquerade as normal cells, hiding from our immune system behind a kind of “mask.” They also produce a protective shield that prevents cancer drugs from reaching them. This is why treatment may work for several months only to fail afterward.Why isn’t there a magic pill for all cancers?
The American Cancer Society recognizes 211 types of cancer and sometimes subtypes of subtypes. We must have different treatments for different cancers. For instance, a drug that works for melanoma may be entirely useless for pancreatic cancer.Let anyone think that all cancers are one; former National Cancer Institute Director Dr. Harold Varmus has noted: “Cancer is not one disease but rather a group that shares some characteristics. Hence, doctors today discuss terms such as ‘‘targeted’ or ‘‘individualized’’ treatment. In principle, they look for specific treatment regimens for particular forms of a specific cancer in an individual patient.Just what role does money play in cure-making?
Of course, money is involved in cancer research. But to think that even if we take the whole of Africa and give it for free to researchers to get to us, it is still not enough money is preposterous. The NIH recommended budget for the National Cancer Institute for the coming financial year 2023 was $7.1 billion. At the same time, pharmaceutical product manufacturers spend half a trillion dollars more. However, it takes approximately 115 years on average for a newly developed cancer drug to secure approval and costs approximately, according to the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development.Think about constructing a huge jigsaw. The more monetary contribution you have, the more pieces will be available and the more individuals will be available to help, but then again, there is time to figure out the pieces and the best way to complete the puzzle.What’s trying to do with the newest technologies?
What do scientists use to combat this deadly disease?Here are seven technologies. For instance, CAR T-cell therapy first got FDA approval in 2017, whereby doctors modify a patient’s immune system to identify cancer cells in order to fight them. It’s like training your body’s natural soldiers to recognize the enemy better.Artificial intelligence is helping doctors learn to look at medical images to predict which treatments might work best for a patient. According to a Science report in 2023, AI sometimes spots cancer in mammograms that doctors might miss.As for the CRISPR gene edit, which won the Nobel Prize in 2020, the same ideas were attempted as a tool to correct the defective genes that would cause cancer. But these are pretty new technologies, and we need more time to understand how to use them safely and correctly.What gives us hope for the future?
We are still to have a cure for all types of cancer; this is a humbling fact. However, we have made tremendous progress in this concept. This should come in handy in shoring up support for what the American Cancer Society says is a 33 percent drop in cancer mortality in the US since 1991. There are more patients alive today who could otherwise have been dead from cancer within the past decades.New therapies, including immunotherapy and targeted drugs, cause many more patients to live longer and better. For example, what were once considered death warrants for many patients are now possible to treat effectively certain forms of melanoma.