It’s good time I start to read up on cancer. Even though I am not taking the cancer biology degree, I’ve designed my final year in University to centre around cancer theme. The thing about cancer that draws my attention is how little we can do for it. The unknown is exciting and that is exactly what I want to pursue.
The problem with cancer is that there is no cure for it. The 3 big treatments for cancer – chemotherapy, radiation and surgery cannot guarantee to remove every single mutated cell. One cancer stem cell being left behind can cause cancer to grow back. This makes finding a cure for cancer very difficult, because how are we supposed to find every single mutant cell? It is like picking out a bad person in a country of good people. They may look the same when alone, and only distinguishable when in a group.
I know that some cancer drugs are meant to block the overactivated signalling in a cell that causes it to proliferate uncontrollably. I think these are called target therapy. But they only target one mutation. What if the cancer is made of different mutations?
My theory
I have a theory that secondary drug resistance isn’t really secondary resistance. It is because all the specific mutated cells had been controlled, but there is another population of cells that are formed by another kind of mutation. Since they are not affected by the drug, it will continue to grow, making it look as though the drug had stopped working when in actual fact it was just another type of mutation.
Or maybe the cancer drugs that are supposed to kill the original cancer cells had caused another kind of mutation in healthy cells during the treatment. When the patient looks like they are in remission, the new mutant cells come in and cause a ‘recurrence’. The problem is they are not the same mutation, which is why the old drugs ‘stop working’. The cancer didn’t come back; it just never left.
Don’t kill me if my theory is wrong. It is just an idea.
Cancer isn’t like infections. We are not killing foreign cells, we have to kill our own cells that stop cooperating. And the reason that it stops cooperating is always different. Most, if not all the time, treatment for cancer ends up harming healthy cells too. I dream to create a treatment method that doesn’t harm the healthy cells, but easier said than done. When you go soft on cancer cells, you risk missing out one cancer stem cell. The scary thing about cancer stem cell is that they are immortal. They’ll live as long as they like and keep on producing mutant daughter cells.
I hate the fact that most cancer patients who are diagnosed in the later stage are basically given treatment to delay their inevitable death. I don’t know if it will happen in my lifetime, but I really hope that one day even terminal cancer can be given a cure. It won’t be easy, but I’m sure human will find a way to control our own cells.
However,
If human were to find a cure for cancer before they found a solution to global warming and environmental problem, we are not really curing cancer. We are causing cancer to Earth. Which is worse, people dying of cancer or our planet dying of cancer? The cure for cancer will definitely cause some form of overpopulation, given that cancer is one of the top death causes in the world.
What I want
I want cancer patient to be treated as a patient. I don’t like how most of them are treated as an experiment specimen. Why can’t we find out the exact mutation(s) their cancer cells are harbouring and treat it specifically? Instead of just randomly giving out the popular drugs and hoping that it would work, why not spend a little bit more money to sequence out the gene to know exactly what went wrong? This way, we can save money by not giving drugs that won’t work, and more people would be saved because we can give them the drug they really need. Imagine dying when you shouldn’t have just because the doctor didn’t give you the drug (which is available) by chance. I’m sure it is happening now, but why aren’t we doing anything?
Cancer drugs are fucking expensive. Why not spend a little more to sequence the cancer cells to know what is wrong? It would be worth it in the long run.
There was an oncologist on Ted that said that in future, there might be clinic specific for certain mutation (e.g. clinic for HER2 mutation). I think that it is a fantastic suggestion.
What I hate
I really hate people who exploit cancer. Look up on the internet for alternative treatment for cancer. There are a lot of bullshit circulating the web. Yes, treatment may not save you in the later stages, but it might reduce the pain and prolong life. People are avoiding treatment based on things on the web. It is just like the anti-vaccine thing all over again, and I’m sad because people die for it. I can’t blame the patients because they might not study science, and those bullshitters are very convincing. Does it feel good to earn money when people are dying from your advice?
Take the video below as an example. There are many pieces of information that are wrong (unless university had been teaching me wrong) but they sound really convincing. The saddest thing is the comment section where so many people truly believed the video. I wished all these would stop.
Cancer is an enemy we had to beat. We may be nowhere close to beating it now, but I’m sure one day we will. Treatments may not be great now but it won’t be forever. We must have hope.
https://youtu.be/KqJAzQe7_0g
