When a genie grants you three wishes, the cure for cancer is usually one of them. However, despite the universal will of humanity to end a disease which half of us will likely get in our lifetime, the cure remains elusive.
Firstly, and most importantly in a quest for a cure, we know what cancer is. This may sound like an unimpressive fact but many diseases from Parkinson’s to Dementia we don’t know what is happening making prevention and treatment haphazard at best. Cancer is extraordinary cell growth which spreads to other parts of the body, meaning that when looking for a cure scientists are focusing on stopping this growth.
So far this all seems so simple and it’s a wonder where the billions of pounds of research has gone. Yet, there is the great problem in the hunt for the cure: cancer is not one disease. From the last count there are over 200 types of cancer, some with early intervention are easily dealt with, others almost certainly fatal. Each of these cancers are unique, with many of these types of cancers having many subtypes of cancers, all with their own individual causes. This means there can never be one cure for cancer, with each type requiring its own cure.
This doesn’t mean that there has been no progress. For years chemotherapy and radiotherapy have been used as a treatment, killing cells in an ‘isolated’ way. However, these are blunt instruments, not distinguishing between cancerous and non-cancerous cells in the body. Despite this cancer survival rates have doubled in the past 40 years due to these treatments.
This medical progress has also been matched by technological progress. It is hoped by techno-optimists that AI will find the solution to the problem of there being many types of cancers. It is supposed that AI with access to DNA and environmental factors of a person can predict the growth and spread of cancer (I must add has yet to be seen). More excitingly though, research is already underway trying to create a “personalised cancer vaccine” which can train the immune system to target cancerous cells. This trial involves over 200 patients from across Europe and the study is expected to be completed in 2027. With these developments, combined with the continued research into chemotherapy and radiotherapy, it is safe to be optimistic about the fact that one day we will find the cure for cancer.