Overcoming the Rocky Path Towards Beating Cancer

by Sydney Henriques

By 2040, cancer is projected to strike nearly 30 million people annually—a staggering 47% increase since 2020.¹ In the U.S. alone, about 40% of people will be diagnosed at some point in their lifetime,² underscoring how few of us remain untouched by this disease.

Tumors were first described in Egyptian texts over 5,000 years ago.³ The first successful treatment of a solid tumor with chemotherapy occurred in 1953.⁴ In the time between, cancer has claimed millions of lives. Centuries of expanding our scientific knowledge has allowed us to save countless numbers of people, but unfortunately, deaths from cancer will continue to occur until we find “the cure.”

But what would a cure for cancer actually look like? We typically think of cancer as a single enemy, but the truth is that cancer is more like hundreds of different enemy armies. Cancer is not one disease, but an umbrella term for more than 200 distinct conditions. Each type has its own unique biology, and even within a single type there are subtypes that respond differently to treatment. Therefore, the idea of a single universal cure is, unfortunately, improbable. Defeating cancer won’t happen in one battle but will take countless battles in an ongoing war.

That’s why research is essential. From 1991 to 2019, the cancer mortality rate in America dropped by 32%—thanks to the relentless work of scientists and physicians.⁵ Advances in detection tools, treatment strategies, and molecularly tailored therapies have saved millions of lives.

Researchers are exploring a wide range of strategies:

• Improved drug delivery: Biomaterials can target tumors more precisely, delivering higher therapeutic doses while reducing toxicity. Doxil, a liposome encapsulating the chemotherapeutic drug called doxorubicin, was the first nano-drug approved by the FDA, back in 1995.⁶ By 2021, there were over 100 nanomedicines had reached the U.S. market, over a dozen of them for cancer.^7,8 Biomimetic nanoparticles are being designed to integrate biological vectors such as cell membranes and viruses to better hide from the immune system and reduce toxicity.⁹ Recent advances in hydrogels—water swollen polymer networks—for cancer therapies include the development of stimuli-responsive hydrogels, which can interact and respond to different environmental cues, such as pH¹⁰, temperature¹¹, and reactive oxygen species.¹² Implementing ‘smart’ biomaterials like these improve precision, efficacy, and safety.
• Immunotherapies: The immune system is naturally designed to eliminate cancer, but tumors often develop ways to hide. By designing therapies that boost immune activity and expose the tumor, researchers can tap into this powerful defense system. Checkpoint inhibitors are one of the most widely used cancer immunotherapy. These antibodies are designed to block ‘off-switches’, either on T cells or cancer cells, which allow T cells to remain activated and kill the cancer cells.¹³ Recently, oncolytic viruses have attracted attention as a potential immunotherapy. Oncolytic viruses are viruses that selectively target and kill cancer cells, sparing healthy host cells. They are both naturally occurring and can be engineered to perform their task and take advantage of suppressed antiviral genes and other genetic defects in tumor cells.¹⁴ Unlike chemotherapy, immunotherapy leverages a patient’s immune system, which not only leads to fewer adverse effects, but can result in a more lasting effect, minimizing chances of cancer recurrence.¹⁵

• Personalized medicine: Because every patient—and every cancer—is unique, tailoring treatments to the genetic mutations driving an individual’s tumor leads to more precise therapies and improved outcomes. Genetically profiling tumors helps physicians identify vulnerabilities in each patient’s cancer and subsequently design tailored treatment plans.¹⁶ Personalized cancer vaccines are a promising development, rising from research into personalized medicine. By understanding the genetic profile of a patient’s tumor, we can then produce a tailored cancer vaccine that targets the neoantigens specific to those cancer cells.^17,18 Although currently limited by high costs and lack of access, personalized medicine could transform how cancer is treated.

Yet, despite breakthroughs in therapies, one fact remains: the earlier cancer is detected, the easier it is to treat. Currently, only a few cancers—including breast, colon, and cervical—have routine screenings in healthy people.¹⁹ The cost, invasiveness, and inaccuracies in cancer screens make it difficult to perform widespread screening in seemingly healthy individuals. Deadly cancers like pancreatic and ovarian cancer often go undetected until late stages, making them harder to treat. Therefore, it’s essential to optimize screening techniques so that they are more accurate, easier to perform, and have minimal costs. Liquid biopsies are small samples of blood or bodily secretions, such as urine, and are analyzed for circulating tumor cells, tumor DNA or RNA, tumor-derived extracellular vesicles.²⁰ This is a minimally invasive method that could be used as a general screening technique for a variety of different cancers. It is limited by challenges with standardization, sample handling, and accuracy.²¹ However, advancements in liquid biopsies are rapidly progressing and they hold the potential to revolutionize early cancer detection methods. Artificial intelligence (AI) has been transforming the modern world—and that includes medicine. Researchers at the National Cancer Institute found that integrating AI algorithms into analyzing breast mammograms improved both the detection rate, as well as the ability to predict long-term risk of invasive breast cancers.²²

While detection saves lives, prevention spares them. Currently, the most effective way we know how to reduce risk of most cancer is promoting healthy lifestyles—avoiding tobacco, maintaining a nutritious and balanced diet, regular exercise, and limiting UV exposure.²³ However, we have also made some progress on the pharmaceutical side. Cancer-preventing vaccines, such as the HPV and HBV vaccines, have saved countless lives and should be encouraged for everyone who is fortunate enough to have access. While in the early phases, other cancer-preventing vaccines are being studied. Many of these target known proto-oncogenes in an effort to prime the immune system to be on the hunt for any abnormalities related to them.²⁴ New cancer-prevention vaccines are being studied, including a phase 1 trial launched in 2022 to test a pooled mutant-KRAS peptide vaccine in individuals at high risk for pancreatic cancer (completion expected in 2031).²⁵

In a time when public trust in science is wavering, continued support for scientists is critical. The reality is that sustained funding is the only way we will make significant progress in any area of cancer research. At every level—prevention, detection, and treatment—we need skilled and dedicated minds focused on the mission without worrying about vanishing funding or dwindling resources. Supporting cancer research—and biomedical research more broadly—must be a global priority.

So, what can you do? While grants from the government are essential in funding research, anyone can make donations and fundraise for non-profit cancer foundations. If donating isn’t an option, we all have the ability to raise awareness online and, in our communities, as well as combat against misinformation spread online by sharing reliable scientific information.

There may never be a single cure for cancer. But by backing the researchers who work tirelessly to understand each variation of this disease, we can make steady progress. We can create more effective treatments, develop more sensitive and affordable detection methods, and design vaccines that protect future generations. Not every breakthrough will be the cure, but together they bring us closer to a future where cancer loses more often than it wins.

Author-

Editors-

Ananya Sen, Rohini Subrahmanyam, and Roopsha Sengupta

Cover image created on ChatGPT

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