Cancer targets one in every three
people. It has some way or another touched all of us and those around us. Being
currently a scientist in cancer research, I attempt to answer 5 burning
questions that everyone has about cancer – in as simple, non-scientific terms
as possible.
What is cancer?
Cancer is a disease that
originates from our own bodies. The cells of many organs and parts of organs
are regenerated on a daily basis, such as skin and intestines. This means that
old cells die and new cells, which will be copies of the old ones, are made.
There are mechanisms within our cells that initiate, hinder and control the
generation and growth of the new cells, as well as the death of old or
malfunctioning ones. Our DNA is the building block of cells and every function
and feature of our bodies. The DNA code sequence has to be copied from the old
cells to the new cells but this copying often comes with errors. Hundreds of these
errors occur in each one of us within a day. However, cells have the way of
fixing the errors. If not fixed, then a majority of them will not be harmful
due to the location in the sequence. If at the wrong place though, an error
could cause serious damage affecting the cell mechanisms that exist in the
cells. This could result in the continuous and unstoppable generation and
growth of cells, eventually leading to a tumour. These cells, even though
normal to begin with, will soon be getting stacked and will begin accumulating
more errors and developing new properties.
Imagine that you are hosting a
party at your flat which can hold up to 100 people. If the security guy at the
door falls asleep and fails to do his job properly, more guests will begin
entering the flat. You are unable to control them and soon enough, you have 200
instead of a 100 guests. The guests are still normal people but they are
packed. There is no space to move. Then the resources become sparse. Some
guests begin opening windows to let fresh air in; others are calling for pizza
deliveries since they are hungry – the cells in a tumour can actually extend
and grow new paths for blood vessels so they can get their oxygen supply. The
guests then begin making noise and the neighbours are disturbed. The guests
begin breaking valuable stuff in your house. In the same way, a tumour begins
pushing against surrounding organs, causing pain and malfunction of the organs.
Eventually, a few of the guests might decide to take the party elsewhere; they
crash at someone else’s place and start inviting more of their friends. And you
got metastasis.
Is cancer a genetic or an
environmental disease?
Cancer is affected by both
genetics and by harmful environmental factors. If there is a mutation (an error
in the DNA) that can be passed on from parent to child, then there are good
chances the child will inherit it. It is not always the case but chances are
certainly higher. This mutation will effectively lead to the same type of
cancer being developed; that is why you hear that women who have first-degree
relatives with breast cancer, are at greater risk and should be monitored more
closely. They might have accumulated a mutated gene, which would increase their
chance of developing breast cancer.
The environment affects greatly
as well though, since certain factors, such as exposure to UV light or
cigarette smoke or radioactive materials can damage our DNA, which would lead
to more errors happening inside our bodies; more than our bodies are prepared
for. Sequentially, more errors will escape the “fixing mechanisms”, therefore
increasing the chances of one or more of these errors leading to the
development of a tumour. However, we are all prone to developing cancer. A
person with the perfect lifestyle and no history of cancers in his or her family
can still have cancer. Genetics and environment simply increase the chances.
Will there ever be one cure for
cancer?
No, personally I do not believe
there will ever be one unique cure or prevention measure (eg. a vaccine) for
cancer; at least not in the near future. This is because cancer is a complex
disease, it consists of a number of “diseases” one could say and it varies
according to the person, its location, its stage, its type, its growth rate.
Cancer from person to person, from organ to organ, varies in so many ways; it
is not like the common flu or diabetes or HIV. That is why the treatment of
each cancer patient has to be designed accordingly and is usually a
combinational one; i.e. surgery with chemotherapy or radiotherapy or hormonal
therapy for example. Quite often, a rumour floats around that the “pill against
cancer” has been found and the drug companies are not releasing it. Let me
assure you that there is no such thing. First of all, the company that would
sell this “pill” would make millions. Second of all, no self-respecting
scientist that works in cancer research would get up in the morning to have
another frustrating day in the lab if the cure had already been found. Believe
it or not, cancer researchers do not just sit around all day, mixing colourful
liquids in tubes and recording the number of bubbles produced.
What is the point of cancer
research then?
Cancer research is important in
developing more efficient prognostic and diagnostic tools and better-targeted
treatments. The sooner a tumour is detected, the earlier it can be treated and
prevented from developing into something which will have no return or even
metastasising. Also, better-targeted treatments means that they will be more
effective at dealing and killing the cancer cells but harming as less as
possible of the “good” cells still dominating in our bodies and right next to
the cancerous ones. Cancer patients often suffer from chemotherapy, since the
drugs are causing harmful effects to their normal, good cells as well. Let us
go back at the example of the uncontrollable party that is taking place in your
flat; the police are doing their best to get all the noisy ones out of the
building but picking them one by one, without hurting the “innocent” ones or disturbing
your neighbours, is impossible. Some good ones will go down with them. Nuking
the whole building is not an option either! Scientists are the police in this
scenario, trying to find out how to better identify the cancerous cells, how to
isolate and exploit their weaknesses so that only them go down; helping cancer
patients to a longer life and a less painful experience.
Have cancer incidences increased
in the last years?
This is debated in the scientific
community. Cancer has certainly been always around, since DNA and cells have
always been around. Cancer was first recorded in 3000 BC in ancient Egypt and
was studied in ancient Greece, given also its name at the time (cancer =
carcinos in Greek, which means “crab”). Whether incidences have increased
though in the last few years or not, it is not clearly defined yet. First of
all, life expectancy has risen. Medicine has prolonged our lives and nowadays,
a lot of people live to their 80s and 90s. A few centuries ago, 50 would be
considered “old”. Therefore, a longer a person lives, the more chances they
have of developing cancer. If x incidences of cancer patients above 70 years
old were recorded in the last 10 years, a small percentage would have been
recorded 3 centuries ago simply because not that many people would have lived
to that age. Also, prognosis and diagnosis of cancer have improved
tremendously. Not all cancer cases would have been diagnosed and recorded 80-100
years ago, whereas nowadays hardly any go undetected.
Lifestyle is most certainly
affecting though. A healthy lifestyle would contribute to prevention of some
cancers, to some extent. A person’s psychology is said to greatly contribute to
the treatment of cancer as well – like it would with any other disease. Quite
often though, we hear that “substance A” has been found to help treat cancer
and “substance A” is actually present in pineapples. Do we stuff our faces with
pineapples though and rest assured that we will never develop cancer? No, the
answer is not as simple as that. Other questions need to be raised, such as “in
what form does that substance exist in pineapple?” and “does the pineapple have
any harmful effects?” Bottom line I would say: Everything in moderation.
Including the seemingly good things.
