Last Updated: March 9, 2022
Cancer is one of the most ubiquitous diseases, affecting 1 in 3 people in the US and claiming roughly 10 million lives worldwide each year. But the variety of cancer types—of which there are more than 100—and the complex biology of the disease have made it difficult to fully understand and address.
At its most basic, cancer is an overgrowth of cells—the building blocks of the body—that aren’t behaving as they should. The behavior of the abnormal cells can be traced back to changes in a cell’s genetic material (DNA), which provides instructions on how cells operate. Changes to these instructions result in cells doing things they shouldn’t.
Often, the changes, or mutations, occur in the parts of DNA that control when and if cells divide. Cancers often become fatal when the broken cells replicate to the point where they take over a particular organ or part of the body. Some mutations are inherited by children from their parents while others arise spontaneously or after damage. Things that can cause DNA damage include smoking, toxins, and UV light. Usually it takes several mutations happening over years in the same cell to cause that cell to turn cancerous, but once it does, the cell may grow and divide quickly.
Given we generally know how it works, what makes it so difficult to address?
Part of the challenge stems from the wide variety of the disease. Cancer isn’t just one disease, but hundreds of different variations that require different treatments and have different outcomes. Cancers are typically named for the part of the body they started in, and when cancerous cells move elsewhere, it’s called metastasis. The two main categories of cancer are those that start in blood cells (hematologic) and those that begin as cells in body organs or tissues (solid tumors). Both types of cancer can metastasize, but it’s more likely that cancer that started from a solid tumor, such as breast cancer, will spread.
If caught early enough, some cancers—such as types of breast and prostate cancer—can be treated and have positive outcomes, meaning people can live decades after diagnosis. If a cancer is not caught early or is particularly aggressive, it may not respond to treatment. Physicians try to match the characteristics of the particular cancer with the most fitting treatment, which is why different people receive different regimens. Perhaps someone you know with a certain type of cancer received radiation (high doses of energy delivered to a specific spot to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors), but not chemotherapy (the use of drugs to kill cancer cells). Care providers also constantly monitor cancer patients during treatment, as cancer cells can develop resistance to drugs, which means the treatment could stop working.
While science and medicine has made progress since the first written mention of cancer by an Egyptian physician on a papyrus scroll 4,000 years ago, there are still a lot of unknowns around cancer. The budget of the National Cancer Institute—the US governmental organization that funds the bulk of cancer research—is $6.56 billion dollars for the 2021 fiscal year, and researchers continue to work to find treatments for the group of diseases that kills 10 million people each year.
Recommended by 1440 Staff
Recommended by 1440 Staff
Recommended by 1440 Staff
Recommended by 1440 Staff
Recommended by 1440 Staff
Recommended by 1440 Staff
Recommended by 1440 Staff
Recommended by 1440 Staff
Recommended by 1440 Staff
Recommended by 1440 Staff
Cancer is one of the most ubiquitous diseases, affecting 1 in 3 people in the US and claiming roughly 10 million lives worldwide each year. But the variety of cancer types—of which there are more than 100—and the complex biology of the disease have made it difficult to fully understand and address.
At its most basic, cancer is an overgrowth of cells—the building blocks of the body—that aren’t behaving as they should. The behavior of the abnormal cells can be traced back to changes in a cell’s genetic material (DNA), which provides instructions on how cells operate. Changes to these instructions result in cells doing things they shouldn’t.
Often, the changes, or mutations, occur in the parts of DNA that control when and if cells divide. Cancers often become fatal when the broken cells replicate to the point where they take over a particular organ or part of the body. Some mutations are inherited by children from their parents while others arise spontaneously or after damage. Things that can cause DNA damage include smoking, toxins, and UV light. Usually it takes several mutations happening over years in the same cell to cause that cell to turn cancerous, but once it does, the cell may grow and divide quickly.
Given we generally know how it works, what makes it so difficult to address?
Part of the challenge stems from the wide variety of the disease. Cancer isn’t just one disease, but hundreds of different variations that require different treatments and have different outcomes. Cancers are typically named for the part of the body they started in, and when cancerous cells move elsewhere, it’s called metastasis. The two main categories of cancer are those that start in blood cells (hematologic) and those that begin as cells in body organs or tissues (solid tumors). Both types of cancer can metastasize, but it’s more likely that cancer that started from a solid tumor, such as breast cancer, will spread.
If caught early enough, some cancers—such as types of breast and prostate cancer—can be treated and have positive outcomes, meaning people can live decades after diagnosis. If a cancer is not caught early or is particularly aggressive, it may not respond to treatment. Physicians try to match the characteristics of the particular cancer with the most fitting treatment, which is why different people receive different regimens. Perhaps someone you know with a certain type of cancer received radiation (high doses of energy delivered to a specific spot to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors), but not chemotherapy (the use of drugs to kill cancer cells). Care providers also constantly monitor cancer patients during treatment, as cancer cells can develop resistance to drugs, which means the treatment could stop working.
While science and medicine has made progress since the first written mention of cancer by an Egyptian physician on a papyrus scroll 4,000 years ago, there are still a lot of unknowns around cancer. The budget of the National Cancer Institute—the US governmental organization that funds the bulk of cancer research—is $6.56 billion dollars for the 2021 fiscal year, and researchers continue to work to find treatments for the group of diseases that kills 10 million people each year.
