The Things They Won t Tell You About Cancer Research And Treatments
Матеріал з Луцький НВК "Гімназія №14"
Getting cancer is just one of the scariest things a person might have and it doesn't only affect the individual diagnosed but in addition individuals around that person 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 one who has or has had cancer. As a result of this, millions of dollars are spent per year on cancer research to get more information about this deadly disease and to identify new effective treatments and cures for it.
The foundation of such research is to identify the types of cancer, diagnose cancer in patients, as well as to find ways to avoid, 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 different types 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.
Conversely, 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 obtain funding from the general public. Stem cell studies have also stirred up a great deal of controversy essentially halting any current testing in this particular field. Another controversial topic with cancer research is the clinical trials as well as the use of animals and human beings.
As stated earlier, funding is one of the most critical parts of keeping such researches alive. There are many organizations around that can 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 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 number 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, 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 is a lot of kudos and an air of Hollywood involved with such things. Cancer research is high profile activity and every now and after that a scientific treatment solutions 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 a component of the problem of how we see cancer. Early discoveries set up an expectation that there was a cure-all treatment, a 'magic bullet' that will make its discoverer famous by curing cancer around 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 set up 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) that will be still employed in chemotherapy today. Taxol, a therapy for ovarian and breast cancer originally came from the Pacific Yew tree. A treatment 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 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 can be 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 shall generally be tested on animals, the second phase will decide dosage levels as well as in phase 3 it really is tested on people. click through the next web site the time it's 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 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 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 is dependent upon 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 very own cycles. For example they may be at their highest activity within the morning and quieter in the evening. 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 how often times it may multiply. Some cancer cells escape this control and can boost 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 actually 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 beneficial treatment.