Future Cancer Research Expertise
cancer research 9780120066919" style="max-width:400px;float:left;padding:10px 10px 10px 0px;border:0px;">Getting cancer is just one of the scariest things a person can have and it doesn't only affect the person diagnosed but in addition people around that individual as well. Cancer is an incredibly deadly disease with several different types. It's tough to find someone in the current world today who hasn't known a person who has or has had cancer. As a result of this, millions of dollars are spent every year on cancer research to know more about this deadly disease and to identify new effective treatments and cures for it.
The foundation of such research is to identify the kinds of cancer, diagnose cancer in patients, as well as to find ways to stop, treat and cure the disease. There are various ways that cancer is researched. These ways include epidemiology and molecular bioscience, which is then utilized in clinical trials to compare and evaluate the different treatments.
The several types of treatments that will 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 performed deals with exposing extracted tumors cells to UV light for a 24-hour period and then injecting them back into the organism. This approach has already been successful on rats.
Conversely, researches of this deadly disease has had its share of issues and is still battling a lot of them. The main issue it faces is funding. A lot 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 lot of controversy virtually halting any current testing in this particular field. Another controversial topic with cancer research is the clinical trials and the use of animals and human beings.
As mentioned earlier, funding is just one of the most critical parts of keeping such researches alive. There are many organizations out there 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 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 a variety more out there.
Many volunteers world-wide commit themselves to raising funds for cancer research and cancer charities. Many hundreds of thousands more work in the industry as carers, or researching, prescribing, identifying 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 happen to be regular breakthroughs in our knowledge of cancer, but little progress in its treatment. Modern research into cancer began in 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 linked to such things. Cancer research is high profile activity and every now and then a scientific treatment methods are discovered that gains wide recognition, such as the HPV-16 trial, but it only applies itself to dealing with a small percentage of cancers. Mass-media hype is involved in 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 pain and diminishes it.
In the 1950's and 60's huge and expensive research projects were setup to test every known substance to find out if it effected cancer cells. You could remember the discovery of the Madagascar Periwinkle (Catharansus Roseus), which revealed alkaloids (vinblastine and vincristine) that will be still employed in chemotherapy today. Taxol, a treatment for ovarian and cancer of the breast originally came from the Pacific Yew tree. A therapy 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 that 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 and also the rest of the plant is generally 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.
Within the first phase it will generally be tested on animals, the other phase will decide dosage levels as well as in phase 3 it is tested on people. By the time it's approved through the Federal Drugs Authority (in U.S.A.) or 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.
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 30 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 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 is dependent 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 own cycles. For example they can be at their highest activity in the morning and quieter during the night. Cancer cells seem 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 how many times it may multiply. Some cancer research scientist cells escape this control and also can increase the number 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 into a flatter arrangement. When you'll find clumps of cells they appear 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.
