Why Everything You Know About Future Cancer Research Is Wrong
Getting cancer is one of the scariest things a person can have and it doesn't only affect the person diagnosed but also the individuals around that person also. Cancer is an incredibly deadly disease with several different types. It's difficult to find someone within the current world today who hasn't known a person who has or has had cancer. Due to this, millions of dollars are spent yearly on cancer research to find out more concerning 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 avoid, treat and cure the disease. There are actually 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 various kinds of treatments that will be being researched are chemotherapy, radiation therapy, gene therapy, finding vaccines, targeted therapy and ways to enhance the immune system. Anti-cancer vaccination research is performed 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 already been successful on rats.
However, researches of this deadly disease has had its share of issues and is still battling some 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 lot of controversy basically halting any current testing inside this field. Another controversial topic with cancer research will be the clinical trials and the usage of animals and human beings.
As mentioned earlier, funding is just one of the most important parts of keeping such researches alive. There are various organizations available that 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 as well as the Walker Cancer Research Institute. This really is just a short number of some of the organizations, but be assured that there are many more available.
Many volunteers world-wide commit themselves to raising funds for cancer research and cancer charities. Many tens of thousands more work in the industry as carers, or researching, prescribing, diagnosing and manufacturing drugs. Huge companies spend fortunes on cancer research. After so long and a lot of billions spent what exactly has cancer research revealed?
There have been 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 after that a scientific treatment is discovered that gains wide recognition, for example the HPV-16 trial, but it only applies itself to the treatment of a small number of cancers. Mass-media hype is part of the problem of how we see cancer. Early discoveries setup an expectation that there was a cure-all treatment, a 'magic bullet' that would make its discoverer famous by curing cancer across the globe. The idea stems in part from aspirin, the 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 setup to test every known substance to determine if it effected cancer cells. You could 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 remedy for testicular cancer and small-cell lung cancer called 'Etoposide' was derived 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, about half of which 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 often thrown away. The medicinally active molecules are extracted from the plant and modified until they may be chemically unique. Then the compound is patented, given a brand name and tested.
Within the first phase it's going to generally be tested on animals, the other phase will decide dosage levels and in phase 3 it is tested on people. Through the time it really is approved by 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 brand new drug can reach five hundred million dollars, which eventually must be recouped from the consumer.
Along with '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 30 years this studies have revealed much about our nature, but still no cure. Here 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 upon interacting cycles geared to acts of perception, breathing, reproduction and renewal. Chronobiology analyses these cycles in relation to different times, for example day and night. Hormones, including stress and growth hormones, have their very 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 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 as well as can raise 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 veins 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 there are 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.
