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I constantly hear one joke/comment all the time: “So have you found a cure to cancer yet?” I’d laugh and say something like “Not yet, but I’m close”. The truth is, as most scientists will agree there will never be a cure to cancer.
I’m not saying this to scare you, but in reality the disease was described before we really knew a lot about it. In reality the word cancer is a word to describe hundred separate diseases caused by thousands of factors.
We will (hopefully sooner than later) find a treatment for each different kind of cancer. But the more we learn about them the more we learn how different they are.
Below is a schematic of a cancer cell (one type of cancer) showing what scientists know about how that cell functions:
Look confusing? Keep in mind this is only an image of what’s going on in that cell. It doesn’t take into consideration how that cell interacts/signals other adjacent cells (cancer and normal) and it doesn’t account for another widely studied area of cancer research called angiogenesis. Angiogenesis means the growth/distribution of new blood vessels. Tumors are certainly living and therefore need a blood supply so researchers are also target the blood vessels supplying these tumors.
So when researchers develop a drug that selectively targets a cancer type, that is HUGE. As you can see from the one (of thousands of diagrams out there), we have learned a lot but there is still so much more to learn. That is why supporting research is more important than ever.
Below is a table listing the estimated new cases and deaths for each common cancer type. Please note this does not include cancers with < 40,000.
As you can see, for several cancer types the % survival is good. But there is still a lot of work to be done.
|
Cancer Type
|
Estimated New Cases
|
Estimated Deaths
|
|
Bladder
|
70,530
|
14,680
|
|
Breast (Female – Male)
|
207,090 – 1,970
|
39,840 – 390
|
|
Colon and Rectal (Combined)
|
142,570
|
51,370
|
|
Endometrial
|
43,470
|
7,950
|
|
Kidney (Renal Cell) Cancer
|
53,581
|
11,997
|
|
Leukemia
|
43,050
|
21,840
|
|
Lung (Including Bronchus)
|
222,520
|
157,300
|
|
Melanoma
|
68,130
|
8,700
|
|
Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma
|
65,540
|
20,210
|
|
Pancreatic
|
43,140
|
36,800
|
|
Prostate
|
217,730
|
32,050
|
|
Thyroid
|
44,670
|
1,690
|
Still interested?? There’s a great reader-friendly monthly bulletin by the National Cancer Institute that will keep you update on month-to-month research progress. Also, please don’t hesistate to contact me with any questions you might have translating any science lingo.
Biochemista 