2Seven Questions You Need To Ask About Future Cancer Research
Getting cancer is one of the scariest things an individual can have and it doesn't only affect the person diagnosed but additionally the people around that individual as well. Cancer is an incredibly deadly disease with many different types. It's challenging to find someone in the current world today who has not known somebody that has or has had cancer. Due to this, millions of dollars are spent per year on cancer research to find out more concerning this deadly disease and also to identify new effective treatments and cures for it.
The foundation of such research is to identify the types of cancer, diagnose cancer in patients, as well as to find ways to prevent, treat and cure the disease. You can find various ways that cancer is researched. These ways include epidemiology and molecular bioscience, which is then employed in clinical trials to compare and evaluate the different treatments.
The different types of treatments that can be being researched are chemotherapy, radiation therapy, gene therapy, finding vaccines, targeted therapy and ways to boost the immune system. Anti-cancer vaccination research is done deals with exposing extracted tumors cells to UV light for a 24-hour period and after that injecting them back in to the organism. This approach has already been successful on rats.
On the contrary, researches of this deadly disease has had its share of issues and is still battling a number of them. The main issue it faces is funding. Most of the funding comes from donations, so people and different organizations have to go out and obtain funding from the general public. Stem cell research has also stirred up a whole lot of controversy basically halting any current testing in the field. Another controversial topic with cancer research will be the clinical trials as well as the use of animals and human beings.
As mentioned earlier, funding is just one of the most significant parts of keeping such researches alive. There are various organizations available which are doing their part to raise money for research. Some of these organizations include; The American Cancer Society, Institute of Cancer Research, Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, United Devices Cancer Research Project, Friends of Cancer Research and the Walker Cancer Research Institute. This really is just a short number of several of the organizations, but rest assured that there are tons more around.
Many volunteers world-wide commit themselves to raising funds for cancer research and cancer charities. Many hundreds of thousands more work within the industry as carers, or researching, prescribing, diagnosing and manufacturing drugs. Huge companies spend fortunes on cancer research. After so long and numerous billions spent what exactly has cancer research revealed?
There have been regular breakthroughs in our knowledge of cancer, but little progress in its treatment. Modern research into cancer began within the 1940's and 50's when scientists isolated substances that killed cancer cells growing in a petri dish, or leukaemia cells in laboratory mice. Early successes in chemotherapy set the pace and received much media exposure, despite the fact that they only applied to 5% of cancer treatments at most.
Serving humanity by solving its major diseases has a celebrity status, there is a lot of kudos and an air of Hollywood involved with such things. Cancer research is high profile activity and every now and then a scientific treatment is discovered that gains wide recognition, for example the HPV-16 trial, but it only applies itself to dealing with a small percentage of cancers. Mass-media hype is part of the problem of how we see cancer. Early discoveries set up an expectation that there was a cure-all treatment, a 'magic bullet' that will make its discoverer famous by curing cancer across the globe. The idea stems in part from aspirin, please click the following internet page original bullet that magically finds its way to the anguish and diminishes it.
In the 1950's and 60's huge and expensive research projects were set up to test every known substance to view if it effected cancer cells. You might remember the discovery of the Madagascar Periwinkle (Catharansus Roseus), which revealed alkaloids (vinblastine and vincristine) which are still utilized in chemotherapy today. Taxol, a therapy for ovarian and cancer of the breast originally came from the Pacific Yew tree. A treatment for testicular cancer and small-cell lung cancer called 'Etoposide' was produced from the May apple. In 'Plants Used Against Cancer' by Jonathan Hartwell over 3,000 plants are identified from medical and folklore sources for the treatment of cancer, about half of that have been shown to have some effect upon cancer cells in a test tube.
When these plants are made into synthetic drugs, single chemicals are isolated and also the rest of the plant is usually thrown away. The medicinally active molecules are extracted from the plant and modified until they are chemically unique. Then the compound is patented, given a brand name and tested.
In the first phase it will generally be tested on animals, the second phase will decide dosage levels and in phase 3 it really is tested on people. By the time it is approved through the Federal Drugs Authority (in U.S.A.) or perhaps the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulation Agency (M.H.R.A.) in Britain, the development costs for a whole new drug can reach five hundred million dollars, which eventually must be recouped from the consumer.
In addition to 'treatment directed' research such as finding chemicals that effect cancer cells, basic research continues apace, into differences between normal and cancerous cells. Within the last thirty years this research has revealed much about our nature, but still no cure. Here are some current strands of scientific research into cancer.
Antibody-guided therapy: this is the original 'magic bullet'. Cancer researchers use monoclonal antibodies to carry poisons directly to the cancer cells without harming others.
Chronobiology: much of what happens in our bodies is governed by cycles, from the female monthly cycle to the cycles of brainwaves. Human health depends on interacting cycles geared to acts of perception, breathing, reproduction and renewal. Chronobiology analyses these cycles in regards to different times, for example day and night. Hormones, including stress and growth hormones, have their own cycles. For example they may be at their highest activity in the morning and quieter at night. Cancer cells appear to no longer obey the exact same cycle rates as normal cells.
Anti-telomerase: one part of a cell, called the telomerase, governs the life cycle of a cell and just how often times it may multiply. Some cancer cells escape this control and can increase the range of times they divide, becoming 'immortal'. Researchers hope to gain control over cancer cells by stopping the action of telomerase.
Anti-angiogenesis: secondary tumours (metastasis) can persuade the cells around them to grow new arteries to feed the tumours, supplying oxygen and nutrients for the growing cancer. This process is called angiogenesis and research here is finding ways to stop the signals to normal cells that start the process.
Anti-adhesion molecules: Cancer cells form into clumps, unlike those in a petri dish which form in to a flatter arrangement. When you'll find clumps of cells they seem to possess a quality that resists treatment. This strand of research looks at ways that may stop the cells clumping together, by dissolving the clumps for more beneficial treatment.
