• Question: Some people get cured from cancer, wouldnt that mean that there is some sort of cure

    Asked by beauchy10 to MarkF, Mark, Michael, Panos, Sarah on 20 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Panos Soultanas

      Panos Soultanas answered on 16 Jun 2010:

      Cancer is a term for a variety of different diseases really. Each type of cancer has different causes and perhaps requires a different type of cure. there may be some common features that could be exploited in our search for a cure but I guess eventually we will require different cures for different types of cancer. I will be amazed if anyone ever finds a single cure for all cancers.

    • Photo: Mark Travis

      Mark Travis answered on 16 Jun 2010:

      Very good question. You are right that some people are cured completely from cancer, whereas others unfortunately die from cancer. However, cancer is a terrible disease because different cancers, in different people can behave very differently. Basically, cancer is caused by mutations in your DNA that cause cells of your body to keep growing when they shouldn’t. When this happens, you get a tumour. What is really serious in cancer is when it spreads to other parts of the body (called metastasis) and you can get lots of tumours around the body (this is generally what kills people).
      So, one way of curing cancer is by surgery- cutting out all the cancerous cells- and this can cure people. But, if the cancer has already spread, or if you don’t manage to get all the cancer cells out, then you won’t be cured. Similarly there are drugs that can be used to treat cancer. However, the drugs are generally targeted at very specific molecules that are important in very specific cancers- so although they will may be good in curing some cancers, they won’t be able to cure all of them.
      So, with more research, hopefully new drugs that can cause the attack of many different cancers (e.g. by the immune system) may lead to better treatments.

    • Photo: Mark Fogg

      Mark Fogg answered on 16 Jun 2010:

      Yes, some cancers can be cured, but they are still a minority, there are so many different kinds. The more we research, the more chance we have of finding cures for more of them. Unfortunately, there is no Silver bullet to cure them all in the same way.

    • Photo: Michael Loughlin

      Michael Loughlin answered on 20 Jun 2010:

      certainyl many recover from cancer…often as a result of treatement and their own bodies ..For somecancers there are chemcial and surgical cures…for others it si more difficult…what we aim for is a cure, with no side effects that is certain to wrok…not there yet i’m afraid

    • Photo: Sarah Burl

      Sarah Burl answered on 20 Jun 2010:

      Yes there is a cure from many cancers but you must catch them early before the cancer has spread to other organs. If you catch it later then it is hard to get rid of it but there are drugs that can treat it and make your life better and make it possible to live longer. It also depends on what cancer you have, some are easier to get rid of than others.

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