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Are they ever going to cure cancer?

B

badmouse

Platinum Member
Cancer runs in my family, so I assume that I'm going to die of it - hopefully, not any time soon.

My father died when I was little, and the whole family got really involved in fund raising and research and all that. This was nearly 50 years ago. Well, the relatives discovered that there was a lot of fraud in the fundraising/research racket, and then they got involved in the movement to make that stuff illegal, and to make charities disclose the percent of donations that went to actual research, and to make research be accountable.

Anyway, there's been at least 50 years of research and donations. I know that they have increased the life-expectancy of a lot of cancer patients.

But, have they come any closer to actually curing and preventing cancer?
 
Originally posted by: badmouse
Cancer runs in my family, so I assume that I'm going to die of it - hopefully, not any time soon.

My father died when I was little, and the whole family got really involved in fund raising and research and all that. This was nearly 50 years ago. Well, the relatives discovered that there was a lot of fraud in the fundraising/research racket, and then they got involved in the movement to make that stuff illegal, and to make charities disclose the percent of donations that went to actual research, and to make research be accountable.

Anyway, there's been at least 50 years of research and donations. I know that they have increased the life-expectancy of a lot of cancer patients.

But, have they come any closer to actually curing and preventing cancer?
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technolgy will catch up. Alot of theory, but nothing is aviailble yet...obviously.

Google?
 
I heard a doctor say last night that theoretically it's impossible to "cure" cancer as it's cells that are growing out of control.
 
i dont think they will

i hate to say it, but my belief that they won't find a cure for it is due to money. there is no money in a cure, there is money in the 'treatment'. in the months/years that people have to continue to pay for these treatments and medicine, that is where all the money is made. if there were to be a cure, it would mean less money. i also believe this about aids and HIV, the money is in the treatment not in the cure.

i really hope they some day do come up witih a cure for it, and i hope they prove my belief wrong.
 
they never thought we'd put on man on the moon either.

i truly believe they will find a cure for cancer, and my father being a guinea pig for cancer treatments will then not have gone through that in vain.
 
yeah, you will have nanobots patrolling your body looking for malformed cells and destroying them before they can reproduce

i expect to see it in our lifetime
 
I hope they will. Unfortunately, it will be too late for my family. My sis passed form cancer years ago.🙁 This wa sduring teh time when some scientist said he found a cure that would isolate all tumours and limit blood to them, thus killing it. It tore my heart to pieces when the expiriment failed.:brokenheart:
 
Yes.
I think the tobacco industry should really be pushing for it, because if they can cure cancer effectively, there's much less incentive not to smoke, which equals more profit for them.
 
Very ambiguous question. There's many different forms of cancer for a start...
The number 1 problem with cancer is that it's not an external infection (bacteria, viruses) but is infact your own cells that reproduce out of control. It is very difficult to determine what is a cancerous cell and what is a healthy cell which is the main problem with finding a cure. Currenty, we basically rely on the fact that cancer cells reproduce slower than healthy cells. Chemotherapy basically kills all young cells within the body (hence the patients feel so ill). The healthy cells recover quickly, but they administer more treatment at a regular interval in order to knock back the cancerous cells.

"Technology will help" is pretty lame and doesn't actually point towards any sort of solution. A cure would either involve a chemical or modified bacterium/virus that could differentiate between healthly and none healthy cells or a completely man-made solution possibly using nanotechnology.

I have a bad feeling that none of us will see this technology in our lifetimes, however.

Good luck all: remember it's 1 in 3 who contract cancer, so of all of us who have posted so far in this thread, three of us will probably get it.
 
stem cell research came through for that korean woman... who knows...

if it happens in our lifetime... then :thumbsup:
 
Originally posted by: Arkitech
was'nt the genome dna project supposed to address some of these issues (cancer, aids, etc.)
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Not really, all they did was find the genetic sequence within DNA. It doesn't say anything about what each gene actually DOES, that's a massivly more complicated problem altogether. Once we know that, then it'll be of some use...
 
Money's in the treatment. Not in the cure.
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Most funding for biology research (including cancer) comes from not-for-profit institutions (like the NIH). The funding is allocated by peer-review rating of the scientific merits of the research, not by big pharma bean counters. So the conspiracy theory is off base here, imo.

Currenty, we basically rely on the fact that cancer cells reproduce slower than healthy cells.
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Most chemotherapeutic agents target actively reproducing cells. Typically the fastest-reproducing cells are the most sensitive (radiation therapy works similarly). Hence people on chemo can lose their hair, have immune system problems.

Chemotherapy basically kills all young cells within the body (hence the patients feel so ill)
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I've yet to see a drug that specifically targets cells based on their age (a telomerase inhibitor might fit the bill, arguably). Reproductive rate is the main target.

was'nt the genome dna project supposed to address some of these issues (cancer, aids, etc.)
Click to expand...

|The genome project has been a big help, but it's not the kind of thing that leads directly to a cure. It can help us find out what the differences are between a normal cell and a cancerous cell but not how to treat the cancer. I'd guess most cancer researchers on the gene regulation side of things have found it to be tremendously helpful. But for many cancers, we've known what most of the genomic problems are for quite a while. The trick is killing the tumor without killing the patient. As others have pointed out, that's not trivial. Since the tumor is human cells, the difference between a lethal dose and an effective dose is often quite small.
 
Originally posted by: purbeast0
i dont think they will

i hate to say it, but my belief that they won't find a cure for it is due to money. there is no money in a cure, there is money in the 'treatment'. in the months/years that people have to continue to pay for these treatments and medicine, that is where all the money is made. if there were to be a cure, it would mean less money. i also believe this about aids and HIV, the money is in the treatment not in the cure.

i really hope they some day do come up witih a cure for it, and i hope they prove my belief wrong.
Click to expand...

 
heard a doctor say last night that theoretically it's impossible to "cure" cancer as it's cells that are growing out of control.
Click to expand...

And cloning was impossible too at one point. It's just a matter of time until they find a cure.
 
All you conspiracy theorists need to wake up and get a clue.

Do you really believe that every scientist in every research team across the entire planet is involved in this conspiracy?

If so, I've got a hat that will keep them from spying on your thoughts.

Only $19.95.

The desire to better mankind is still above the need for money in much of the population, particularly those interested in research, fortunately.

I suppose you also believe that Big Oil bought out the guy that invented the 200mpg carburetor and shelved it.

Right.
 
Originally posted by: Ausm
No because the drug companies and research labs would loose to much revenue.

Ausm
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It just isn't like that man.

If you believe that, then you believe that they currently are not working on a cure for cancer.

What would be the point? They aren't going to spend hundreds of millions of dollars in research, go "Eureka!", and then hide it! It doesen't make any sense. What if another company discovered the same thing around the same time and decided to go public with it? You have to realize that all these different research teams aren't working together, they each want to discover the next big thing first.

Sure, there is money in the treatment. How can you possibly say that there isn't money in the cure, though?

Why have we ever bothered to cure any disease? They would make more money pushing pills, treating the sickness instead of curing it. The mindset just doesen't make any sense.

Also remember that there are many, many different kinds of cancer. A cure for even a single one would be a huge advancement.

There will always be need for research. Even if we cure cancer, research will not stop.

Besides, you almost make it sound like research labs are making bank or something. Hardly. Most research labs have to beg for funding, and every spare penny gets put to use.
 
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