Billions of pounds have been raised, invested and spent on cancer research over many decades, but we still haven’t cured cancer. We asked our experts to explain just why that is - and why we still urgently need to fund more cancer research.
As a researcher and doctor who has seen first-hand the lifesaving potential of new targeted therapies for cancer, my opinion is that we are far from helpless in the face of cancer. While individual cancer diagnoses remain one of the scariest conversations people can have with their doctor; it is worth stepping back to look at the bigger picture. Over the last 40 years, research has made astonishing progress and survival rates for many cancers have increased dramatically over the last decades. Survival rates for many cancers have soared.
It's important to remember that we have come a long way - overall, cancer survival in the UK has doubled in the last 40 years.
In the 1970s only 25% of people with cancer would survive 10 years or more after their diagnosis. Today that figure is 50%. But cancer is a complex disease - and the fact is that we won't ever find one single cure. Here's why:
Cancer is not just one disease
To understand why we haven’t cured cancer yet, the most important thing to know is that cancer is not one disease. Instead, it’s an umbrella term for more than 200 distinct diseases – that’s why we fund research into any type of cancer.
Each broad cancer type has many sub-types, and they all look and behave differently because they are different on a genetic and molecular level. This is because cancer arises from our own cells, so each cancer can be as different and diverse as people are.
Myriads of mutations exist
Underlying the more than 200 different cancers are a myriad of different genetic mutations. Every cancer is caused by a different set of mutations and as the tumour grows, more and more mutations accumulate. This means that every tumour has an individual set of mutations, so a drug that works for one cancer patient, might have absolutely no effect on another.
That’s why we fund researchers like Dr Diego Pasini in Italy, whose research project aims to understand why a particular mutation makes some cancers more likely to develop.
Cancer cells within a single tumour are not identical
Not every cancer cell in a tumour will have the same genetic mutations as a neighbouring cancer cell. That means that treatments can often kill one type of cell in a tumour, while others survive the treatment, allowing the tumour to grow again.
Treatments can eventually stop working
The genetic mutations that cancer cells acquire over time mean that the cells change the way they behave. This can be an incredibly difficult problem during treatment because the mutations can lead to cancer cells developing resistance to a treatment over time, making it ineffective.
If that happens, the patient will then have to be put on to a different treatment – but again, the cancer could develop resistance to the new drug. This is why we fund researchers like Maite Huarte, who is trying to figure out how to overcome this resistance.
Cancer cells are really good at staying alive
Normal cells have certain mechanisms in place that stop them from growing or dividing too much. Cancer cells have lost these control mechanisms and can develop an arsenal of tricks to avoid being killed.
That’s why we fund researchers like Vincenzo Giambra, who aims to understand how cancer cells become such survival experts.
We cannot fund more vital research without the support of Curestarters like you. Together we can save lives by discovering new cures for all types of cancer. Will you join us today?
Donate now & become a Curestarter
Be part of a united effort to stop lives being cut short by cancer.
