What are cancer cells and how do they spread?
Cancer cells are different from normal cells as unlike normal cells, they don’t stop growing at a certain stage but keep multiplying indefinitely. A tumour is formed by billions of copies of the original cancerous cell. The reason for this abnormal behaviour can be a hereditary mutation in a gene (but that’s only the case for 5 to 10% of cancers) or mostly caused by other factors like things people do (smoking, spending a lot of time exposed to sun without protection, bad eating habits, …). Environmental exposure to radiation or to certain chemicals has also been shown to increase the risk of cancer for the exposed persons. Finally, infections like hepatitis, HPV, and HIV are also linked to higher cancer incidence. Because cancer cells are multiplying at a very high rate, they accumulate defects during the tumour growth, sometimes developing resistance to therapeutic agents or escape mechanisms to spread inside the body of the patient, causing metastasis.
See also: Detecting Ovarian Cancer
Older people can be more prone to cancer, why is this?
More than 331,000 people are diagnosed with cancer each year in the UK. That is approximately 1 new diagnostic every 2 secondes. Nearly two thirds of cancers (63%) are diagnosed in people aged 65 and over. For a long time we thought that because our cells were growing old, they were accumulating errors in their DNA blueprint because of their prolonged exposure to carcinogens. Mutations also occur randomly when a cell’s DNA is copied before it divides. As a result, our cells accumulate more mutations the longer we live.
But recent scientific studies have shown that mutations are actually also present at high rate in cells from young individuals. So instead of gathering mutations until they give us cancer, scientists now think that the mechanisms that young and healthy adults use to fight cancer deteriorate when we age and, as a consequence, our immune system is then more prone to let cancers develop than when we’re younger.
What are the different types of treatments available for cancer patients?
When patients are diagnosed with cancer, a care team will discuss with them about the different treatment options. It’s important to take time and think about all the options. In choosing plan, the most important factors are generally the type of cancer and the stage (aggressiveness) of the cancer.
Surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation are the 3 main types of A person with cancer may have either one or a combination of these treatments. Surgery is usually the first treatment if the tumour can be removed. Chemotherapy means using drugs to kill cancer cells. Usually, they are given intravenously or taken by mouth.
Radiation treatment (often called radiotherapy) is one of the other ; with high-energy rays to kill cancer cells. The radiation may come from outside the body, called external radiation (like an X-Ray), or from radioactive materials placed right into the tumour (internal or implant radiation).
Since a few years, new kinds of treatment are being developed and include targeted therapy, stem cell or bone marrow transplant and immunotherapy.
What are the benefits and side effects of each treatment?
The benefits of surgery are obvious: if the tumour is accessible (which is not always the case), a simple surgery is performed and the tumour is removed, no chemo or radiation are required. But even the best surgeon is never sure to have removed all the cancer cells and so the chance still exists that the tumour could grow back. Side effects are more psychological, especially if we are talking about breast removal (mastectomy) or resection of the tongue.
Chemotherapy’s main benefit is that the drug is circulating in the whole body and thus can reach secondary cancer sites maybe not detected during the primary diagnostic. It has some short-term and long-term side effects. Short-term effects include nausea, appetite and hair loss. Most of these effects go away after treatment ends. But it can have long-term effects too, as it sometimes damages the bone marrow and its blood-making cells, leading to a shortage of white blood cells (and thus a higher risk of infection), a shortage of blood platelets (and thus increase risk of bruising or bleeding) and anaemia because of low red blood cell counts.
Radiotherapy is very much like an x-ray and is not painful. The most frequent side effects are skin irritation and fatigue, which is the most common and distressing side effect of cancer and its treatment. It is a feeling of extreme tiredness and low energy that does not get better with rest. It often lasts for many weeks after the treatment ends.
Can someone’s country of origin have an impact on his or her genetic disposition to cancer?
Recent research indicates that there are many factors that may contribute to the development and survival rates for some cancers, these being in a certain way linked to ethnical, cultural and socio-economical background.
- Lifestyle behaviours encompassing diet, physical exercise, sun exposure, smoking, and alcohol use and sexual practice behaviours
- Socio-economic factors including education and income level, access to health insurance, and routine medical screening and services
- Genetic factors involving inherited genes and a family history of certain diseases
- Cultural factors involving practices, beliefs and in some instances mistrust of the health care system, which may prevent some from seeking preventive screening services
How are ‘survival’ rates measured once the cancer has been identified?
Cancer survival rates or survival statistics tell you the percentage of people who survive a certain type of cancer for a specific period of time. These rates are based on information gathered on hundreds or thousands of people with a specific cancer. An overall survival (OS) rate includes people of all ages and health conditions who have been diagnosed with that cancer type, including those diagnosed very early and those diagnosed very late. Other types of survival rates that give more specific information include disease-free survival rate (people in full remission) or progression-free survival rate (people in partial remission).
How have cancer treatments progressed with new technology and findings in the past decade-are we closer to a cure?
Researchers around the world are working hard to find a cure against cancer. Today we know that there isn’t one disease called cancer, but that it is constituted by many different diseases. For a cancer patient, instead of cure, we prefer to speak about remission, which is the period of time when the cancer is responding to treatment or is under control. In a complete remission, all the signs and symptoms of cancer go away and cancer cells can’t be detected by any of the tests available for that cancer. It’s also possible for a patient to have a partial remission. This is when the cancer shrinks but doesn’t completely disappear.
Precision Medicine aims at analysing the genetic make-up of each individual tumour to select the right therapy for each patient, effective cancer treatments that improve chances of survival and reduce exposure to adverse effects, so the patient can enjoy an improved health and a longer, better life. New and effective cancer treatments are also developed. Proton therapy for example is considered the most advanced form of radiation therapy that uses high-energy proton beam to irradiate tumors. It is particularly appropriate in situations where treatment options are limited and conventional radiotherapy using photon beam presents unacceptable risks to patients (eye and brain cancers, head and neck cancers, prostate, liver, lung, breast, and pediatric cancers).
See also: Pancreatic Cancer: Early Diagnosis Saves Lives
What advice and tips would you give to someone who has been newly diagnosed when choosing their next options/steps?
Cancer is a complex disease that will impact not only the patients’ health but also their daily life and often their family, job etc. It is important to first understand very well the information provided by the oncologist and in case there is any doubt, not to hesitate to ask for a second medical advice from another doctor.
After, if the first line of treatment isn’t working, it can be important to look at other options. Oncologists must follow official guidelines but sometimes none of the routine tests can explain why the approved treatment is not working or in the guidelines there might be several options and none of the classical tests can discriminate which option is the best for the patient’s specific cancer. This is where precision medicine can play a crucial role. The associated results must be discussed with the oncologist and the expert providing those tests to insure the best therapeutic option and avoid any frustration or misleading conclusion.
Is it possible to reduce the risk of cancer through our lifestyle habits?
As we saw earlier, some factors that may explain cancer’s higher incidence in elderly persons include the long-term effects of chronic inflammation, cancer-promoting DNA changes caused by oxygen free radicals, less-effective DNA damage-repair mechanisms, and weakening of the immune system so it’s less efficient in detecting and attacking cancer cells.
Several studies have reported that managing chronic conditions and making lifestyle changes in middle age and beyond can modify cancer risks. These changes include increasing physical activity, sleeping well, eating a healthy diet, drinking alcohol moderately and quitting smoking. Doing so can reduce cancer risk and increase the odds of what scientists call “successful aging.”
OncoDNA is a Belgium-based company founded in December 2012 focusing on precision medicine in oncology—the company aims to provide cancer molecular profiling to individualise therapy decisions. Efficient cancer treatment requires close monitoring of the disease and a thorough understanding of its mechanisms of mutation. Through personalized medicine, we offer a new and efficient way to fight against cancer. To find out more about OncoDNA, their services and treatments, visit their website: oncodna.com
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