3 Myths About Future Cancer Research
Getting cancer is one of the scariest things a person might have and it will not only affect the individual diagnosed but in addition people around that person also. Cancer is definitely an incredibly deadly disease with a number of different types. It's tough to find someone within the current world today who has not known somebody that has or has had cancer. Because of this, millions of dollars are spent yearly on cancer research to learn more about this deadly disease and to identify new effective treatments and cures for it.
The basis of such research is to identify the types of cancer, diagnose cancer in patients, and also to find ways to prevent, treat and cure visit the following internet site disease. There are various ways that cancer is researched. These ways include epidemiology and molecular bioscience, which is then used in clinical trials to compare and evaluate the different treatments.
The different kinds 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 then injecting them back in to the organism. This approach has recently been successful on rats.
On the flip side, researches of this deadly disease has had its share of issues and is still battling many 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 public. Stem cell research has also stirred up a great deal of controversy virtually 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 one of the most important parts of keeping such researches alive. There are several organizations around that will be 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 is just a short number of several of the organizations, but be assured that there are a lot more available.
Many volunteers world-wide commit themselves to raising funds for cancer research and cancer charities. Many tens 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 so many billions spent what exactly has cancer research revealed?
There are already regular breakthroughs in our understanding 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's a lot of kudos and an air of Hollywood involved in such things. Cancer research is high profile activity and every now and then a scientific treatment methods are discovered that gains wide recognition, for example the HPV-16 trial, but it only applies itself to the management of a small number of cancers. Mass-media hype is involved in the problem of how we see cancer. Early discoveries set up an expectation that there was a cure-all treatment, a 'magic bullet' that would make its discoverer famous by curing cancer around the world. The idea stems in part from aspirin, the original bullet that magically finds its way to the pain and diminishes it.
In the 1950's and 60's huge and expensive research projects were set up to test every known substance to see if it effected cancer cells. You might remember the discovery of the Madagascar Periwinkle (Catharansus Roseus), which revealed alkaloids (vinblastine and vincristine) that can be still utilized in chemotherapy today. Taxol, a therapy for ovarian and breast cancer originally came from the Pacific Yew tree. A therapy 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 three thousand plants are identified from medical and folklore sources for the treatment of cancer, around half of which have been shown to have some impact on cancer cells in a test tube.
When these plants are made into synthetic drugs, single chemicals are isolated as well as the rest of the plant will likely be 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, your second phase will decide dosage levels as well as in phase 3 it's tested on people. Through the time it really is approved through the Federal Drugs Authority (in U.S.A.) or even the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulation Agency (M.H.R.A.) in Britain, the development costs for a new drug can reach five hundred million dollars, which eventually has to be recouped from the consumer.
In addition to 'treatment directed' research for example finding chemicals that effect cancer cells, basic research continues apace, into differences between normal and cancerous cells. In the last thirty years this studies have revealed much about our nature, but still no cure. Below are some current strands of scientific research into cancer.
Antibody-guided therapy: this really 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 relies on interacting cycles geared to acts of perception, breathing, reproduction and renewal. Chronobiology analyses these cycles in regards to different times, such as day and night. Hormones, including stress and growth hormones, have their own cycles. For example they can be at their highest activity within the morning and quieter overnight. 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 how many times it may multiply. Some cancer cells escape this control as well as 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 vessels 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 effective treatment.
