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Cancer treatment should be an essential part of such conversations. It’s time the groundbreaking work in research labs reaches people who suffer from the disease.Last week, the University of Houston announced that its researchers have made significant improvements to a next-generation cancer therapy that kills tumour cells while leaving healthy tissues intact. The treatment uses genetically engineered or naturally occurring microbes — oncolytic viruses — that replicate in cancer cells and overwhelm them. The therapy also strengthens the cancer patient’s immune system against the tumour. However, this also means that, at times, the oncolytic viruses come up against the body’s natural defence system. At the University of Houston’s Centre for Nuclear Receptors and Cell Signaling, researchers used gene editing to cancel out such an immune response, enabling the anti-cancer microbes to work with all their might. Along with the breakthrough, last month, in anti-rectal cancer treatment, advances in the use of oncolytic viruses offer hope that cancerous tumours can be eliminated without the use of surgery or debilitating chemotherapy.
Cancer has been a scourge of humankind for centuries. Advances in molecular cell biology and genetics since the second half of the 20th century have made the disease far less intractable. Early tumour detection with non-invasive imaging such as CT, MRI and PET scans has helped in discriminating between aggressive and non-malignant tumours. There is a vaccine for cervical cancer. Scientists have taken important steps to unravel the complex linkages between individual immune systems and cancerous cells. Research has also underlined connections between the disease, local environments, cultural practices, and individual habits. Such facets of the disease could have been difficult to model or quantify about two decades ago. But advances in computational methods and the ability to generate and share big data have made it easier to arrive at a more granular understanding of the disease.
Cancer accounted for nearly 10 million deaths in 2020 — before the world was overtaken by the Covid pandemic, nearly one in six deaths was cancer-related. That two-thirds of all cancer deaths occur in low-and middle-income countries indicates the limited reach of this state-of-the-art research. For a large section of those who can access treatment, the high costs of modern-day healthcare often mean a devastating financial burden. Even in the US, a report of a Kaiser Family Foundation-NPR survey released last week has revealed that “two-thirds of adults with health care debt who have had cancer themselves or in their family have cut spending on food, clothing, or other household basics”. The Covid pandemic has re-ignited debates on making healthcare equitable and reforming practices — including patent systems — that lock out a large number of people from accessing healthcare. Cancer treatment should be an essential part of such conversations. It’s time the groundbreaking work in research labs reaches people who suffer from the disease.
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