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I am not a biologist but I've known a few in my time; It is highly unlikely there will ever be a singular "cure for cancer" as cancer is a bit of a blanket ter

I am not a biologist but I've known a few in my time; It is highly unlikely there will ever be a singular "cure for cancer" as cancer is a bit of a blanket term given to multiple diseases, however this is a seemingly reasonably good breakthrough in treatment - being able to destroy cancerous cells without exposing the patient to further harm via targeted radiation or harsh chemo drugs (basically targeted poisoning) feels like a win. If we can break the cells down and let the body's immune system take care of the remnants instead of having to slice someone open, huge win!

once_inc 3y ago
> It is highly unlikely there will ever be a singular "cure for cancer" as cancer is a bit of a blanket term given to multiple diseases, "It doesn't make sense to say 'cure for cancer.' Cancer is a wide variety of disorders with different manifestations and etiology. It makes as much sense as saying 'a cure for virus'." > https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2011-11-21 https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2011-11-21
- unsupp0rted 3y ago
  An enhanced immune system would functionally be a “cure for virus”. It’s conceivable we could find a technique that targets and ruptures any cancer cell, functionally becoming a “cure for cancer”.
  - stvltvs 3y ago
    Which could increase the risk for autoimmune disease. Current immunotherapy treatments for cancer that I'm aware of have to be carefully monitored so they don't kill the patient.
dghughes 3y ago
Or better yet find out how to prevent cancers since it's better to not be sick than to treat you once you are sick. Things like the HPV vaccine which in my province saw a 90% drop in just a few years. I think everyone should get it no questions asked which maybe they don't anymore? The Hepatitis B vaccine too since having the disease is a cause of liver cancer. But if all else fails it's also good to have a tools to try to get rid of cancers.
- thehappypm 3y ago
  HPV is a unique one because it's essentially a contagious cancer, and you're not vaccinating against cancer, you're vaccinating against the carrier (HPV). A really interesting cancer treatment that's very promising is customized vaccines that specifically target cancer cells for each individual's cancer!
- kulahan 3y ago
  Preventing cancer seems like a fool's based on my understanding of the disease. You have cancerous cells in your body every single day. Your immune system kills them all off. It's like saying you want to prevent all bacteria from entering your body. It's just not realistic (at least, not right now).
  - foobiekr 3y ago
    Replying to a post noting a 90% reduction in cancer thanks to the HPV vaccine with "preventing cancer seems like a fool's errand" is pretty amazing. Would you care to expand on that?
    - kulahan 3y ago
      HPV is a carrier disease for one strain of cancer. Cancer is a type of disease - as said elsewhere, it's like saying "I found a cure for virus".
  - inglor_cz 3y ago
    Maybe the OP meant "prevention" in the sense of "improving your immune system so much that cancer never manifests as a disease".
    - foobiekr 3y ago
      HPV causes cancer. The prevention here is literal - by preventing infection from the oncogenic HPV variants there is no cancer.
  - tyingq 3y ago
onetimeuse92304 3y ago
I am of more positive thinking here. I think our problems with cancer are due to misunderstanding what cancer is in the first place. Here, Thomas Seyfried can explain this much better than I ever could: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KusaU2taxow https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KusaU2taxow I think once we know where cancer comes from we can be much more effective at preventing it in the first place (proper diet) and treating it after the fact. With the current progress I think at some point we should be able to prevent pretty much close to all deaths from cancer. Obviously, people will always be dying of something so preventing a cancer will only mean we will have other challenges to face.
- benjijay 3y ago
  It's been a few years since I was as deep into this realm so I might be slightly off but; Cancers and Tumors mostly happen as a result of some errant mutation - there are limitless causes for such things and the best diet in the world can't save you from random biological chance or solar radiation. Everything comes with a risk and 98 times out of 100 your own defences will see this mutation happen and shut it down before it gets too far A 100% effective 'prevention' for cancer would basically be a souped-up immune system to the point that we basically never get meaningfully sick, and probably live another 30-50 years as a result (most cases of "died of old age" are more like "had 7 different minor cancers which overwhelmed the body's systems")
  - chefandy 3y ago
    Yeah— it's obviously worth interrogating how our environments affect our cancer risk, but considering that the disease was named by Hippocrates in the 300s BCE, it seems pretty unlikely that any single avoidable environmental factor could be "the cause," or any single factor could be "the mechanism."
    - benjijay 3y ago
      Certainly there are myriad 'causes', and likely at least a few mechanisms if you get into specifics, but as a general rule a cancerous tumour is a group of cells that multiply faster than they die (or don't die at all), and consume resources without 'giving back' to the organ in which they reside - effectively the "I have outlived my designated usefulness" switch gets commented out and replaced with "multiply even harder, forever"

once_inc 3y ago

> It is highly unlikely there will ever be a singular "cure for cancer" as cancer is a bit of a blanket term given to multiple diseases, "It doesn't make sense to say 'cure for cancer.' Cancer is a wide variety of disorders with different manifestations and etiology. It makes as much sense as saying 'a cure for virus'." > https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2011-11-21 https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2011-11-21

unsupp0rted 3y ago
An enhanced immune system would functionally be a “cure for virus”. It’s conceivable we could find a technique that targets and ruptures any cancer cell, functionally becoming a “cure for cancer”.
- stvltvs 3y ago
  Which could increase the risk for autoimmune disease. Current immunotherapy treatments for cancer that I'm aware of have to be carefully monitored so they don't kill the patient.

dghughes 3y ago

Or better yet find out how to prevent cancers since it's better to not be sick than to treat you once you are sick. Things like the HPV vaccine which in my province saw a 90% drop in just a few years. I think everyone should get it no questions asked which maybe they don't anymore? The Hepatitis B vaccine too since having the disease is a cause of liver cancer. But if all else fails it's also good to have a tools to try to get rid of cancers.

thehappypm 3y ago
HPV is a unique one because it's essentially a contagious cancer, and you're not vaccinating against cancer, you're vaccinating against the carrier (HPV). A really interesting cancer treatment that's very promising is customized vaccines that specifically target cancer cells for each individual's cancer!
kulahan 3y ago
Preventing cancer seems like a fool's based on my understanding of the disease. You have cancerous cells in your body every single day. Your immune system kills them all off. It's like saying you want to prevent all bacteria from entering your body. It's just not realistic (at least, not right now).
- foobiekr 3y ago
  Replying to a post noting a 90% reduction in cancer thanks to the HPV vaccine with "preventing cancer seems like a fool's errand" is pretty amazing. Would you care to expand on that?
  - kulahan 3y ago
    HPV is a carrier disease for one strain of cancer. Cancer is a type of disease - as said elsewhere, it's like saying "I found a cure for virus".
- inglor_cz 3y ago
  Maybe the OP meant "prevention" in the sense of "improving your immune system so much that cancer never manifests as a disease".
  - foobiekr 3y ago
    HPV causes cancer. The prevention here is literal - by preventing infection from the oncogenic HPV variants there is no cancer.
- tyingq 3y ago

onetimeuse92304 3y ago

I am of more positive thinking here. I think our problems with cancer are due to misunderstanding what cancer is in the first place. Here, Thomas Seyfried can explain this much better than I ever could: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KusaU2taxow https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KusaU2taxow I think once we know where cancer comes from we can be much more effective at preventing it in the first place (proper diet) and treating it after the fact. With the current progress I think at some point we should be able to prevent pretty much close to all deaths from cancer. Obviously, people will always be dying of something so preventing a cancer will only mean we will have other challenges to face.

benjijay 3y ago
It's been a few years since I was as deep into this realm so I might be slightly off but; Cancers and Tumors mostly happen as a result of some errant mutation - there are limitless causes for such things and the best diet in the world can't save you from random biological chance or solar radiation. Everything comes with a risk and 98 times out of 100 your own defences will see this mutation happen and shut it down before it gets too far A 100% effective 'prevention' for cancer would basically be a souped-up immune system to the point that we basically never get meaningfully sick, and probably live another 30-50 years as a result (most cases of "died of old age" are more like "had 7 different minor cancers which overwhelmed the body's systems")
- chefandy 3y ago
  Yeah— it's obviously worth interrogating how our environments affect our cancer risk, but considering that the disease was named by Hippocrates in the 300s BCE, it seems pretty unlikely that any single avoidable environmental factor could be "the cause," or any single factor could be "the mechanism."
  - benjijay 3y ago
    Certainly there are myriad 'causes', and likely at least a few mechanisms if you get into specifics, but as a general rule a cancerous tumour is a group of cells that multiply faster than they die (or don't die at all), and consume resources without 'giving back' to the organ in which they reside - effectively the "I have outlived my designated usefulness" switch gets commented out and replaced with "multiply even harder, forever"