The Number One Question You Must Ask About Future Cancer Research
Матеріал з Луцький НВК "Гімназія №14"
Getting cancer is just one of the scariest things a person can have and it does not only affect the person diagnosed but in addition the people around that individual also. Cancer is definitely an incredibly deadly disease with several unique types. It's hard 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 each and every year on cancer research to learn more concerning this deadly disease and also to identify new effective treatments and cures for it.
The basis of such research is to identify the types of cancer research scientist, diagnose cancer in patients, and to find ways to prevent, treat and cure the disease. There are 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 several types of treatments that will be being researched are chemotherapy, radiation therapy, gene therapy, finding vaccines, targeted therapy and ways to increase 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 into the organism. This approach has also 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 acquire funding from the public. Stem cell research has also stirred up a lot of controversy just about halting any current testing within this field. Another controversial topic with cancer research is the clinical trials and the use of animals and human beings.
As mentioned earlier, funding is one of the most significant parts of keeping such researches alive. There are several organizations available that will be doing their part to raise money for research. Several 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 also the Walker Cancer Research Institute. This really is just a short list of some of the organizations, but rest assured that there are a lot more out there.
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, 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 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, even though 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 in such things. Cancer research is high profile activity and every now and after that a scientific treatment solutions are discovered that gains wide recognition, such as the HPV-16 trial, but it only applies itself to the treatment of a small portion 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 could make its discoverer famous by curing cancer throughout the world. 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 set up to test every known substance to find out if it effected cancer cells. You might remember the discovery of the Madagascar Periwinkle (Catharansus Roseus), which revealed alkaloids (vinblastine and vincristine) that are still utilized in chemotherapy today. Taxol, a therapy for ovarian and breast cancer 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 3,000 plants are identified from medical and folklore sources for treating cancer, about 50% 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 and the rest of the plant is usually thrown away. The medicinally active molecules are extracted from the plant and modified until they're chemically unique. Then the compound is patented, given a brand name and tested.
Within the first phase it shall generally be tested on animals, the second phase will decide dosage levels and in phase 3 it's tested on people. By the time it really is approved by 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 brand new drug can reach five hundred million dollars, which eventually must be recouped from the consumer.
As well as 'treatment directed' research for example 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. 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, for example day and night. Hormones, including stress and growth hormones, have their very own cycles. For example they might 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 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 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 seem to possess a quality that resists treatment. This strand of research looks at ways that can stop the cells clumping together, by dissolving the clumps for more effective treatment.
