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Asked by ipavord to Elaine, Derek, Heather, Keith on 27 Jun 2013. This question was also asked by n4t4nb.
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Heather Eyre answered on 27 Jun 2013:
Cancer is a really complicated disease, and there are lots and lots of different types of cancer.
The biggest problem is that, unlike and infection, the cells are not from outside. They are your own cells, so your immune system tends to ignore them. But this also makes it difficult to make drugs that kill only cancer cells.
Improved detection methods mean that surgical removal of cancers is more successful than it used to be. And for some cancers they can actually remove the tissue before you get cancer if needed. This happens with breast cancer.
Every cancer is different, and cells within the same cancer tumour aren’t even all the same, so even though a drug may kill 75% of a tumour it can still grow back.
Cancer treatment is getting better, and survival rates are a lot better than even 10 years ago. But finding anything early can really make the difference!
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Keith Siew answered on 27 Jun 2013:
The magic pill or silver bullet for cancer is really just a “dream” to be honest… there won’t be just one cure I believe… Cancer is an umbrella term for a whole host of diseases with many different causes and many different cell types so to have one treatment for them all while not impossible is exceptionally unlikely!
Our best chances of finding a “cure” would be through study of animals that very rarely get or are totally immune to cancer like the Naked Mole Rat or Sharks!
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