FIGHTING THE BIG C
Medicine is taking on cancer and winning! Here are some of the latest breakthroughs in the treatment of this dreaded disease
CANCER is arguably one of the most feared diseases and finding a cure for it is one of the Holy Grails of medicine. While that hasn’t happened yet, there have been remarkable medical breakthroughs in the treatment of this dreaded disease.
Survival rates have increased dramatically over the years and according to Professor Karol Sikora, one of the UK’s leading specialists and dean of the University of Buckingham Medical School, in 10 years the figure will be close to 70% in that country,
What this means is that for many, cancer will become a disease you live with rather than die from.
“Over the past decade there’s been a huge increase in our understanding of the molecular changes that occur in the body’s cells and lead to cancer,” Sikora says. “And in another 10 years we’ll understand a lot more. We’re making good progress.”
Here’s a round-up of some of the latest and most promising developments. BLOOD TEST SPOTS CANCER BEFORE IT DEVELOPS In one of the more exciting breakthroughs announced recently, scientists are developing a blood test that can diagnose any type of cancer a decade before symptoms appear.
Taking a sample of a patient’s blood and running it through a machine in the laboratory, they can check for any DNA shed by tumours – this starts circulating in the bloodstream long before patients feel symptoms – giving doctors an early warning the patient will develop cancer.
This DNA can tell scientists where tumours are growing and how far the cancer has spread. US researchers believe the test – known as liquid biopsy – could halve cancer death rates and would be particularly beneficial for the deadliest forms of the disease such as lung, pancreatic and ovarian cancer, which are often diagnosed late.
Trials recently carried out on 161 patients already diagnosed with breast, lung or prostate cancer found the test could correctly identify the tumour in 90% of cases.
The test, which has received funding
from Microsoft founder Bill Gates, could be available within two years. The eventual goal is to offer it to patients alongside routine blood pressure and cholesterol checks when they visit their GP for a check-up. SUPER-PRECISE RADIOTHERAPY A pioneering new type of radiotherapy machine could transform the care of cancer patients. MR Linac machines are the first to be able to generate both MRI images and x-rays, as well as deliver radiotherapy at the same time. This allows radiotherapy to be adjusted in real time and therefore delivered more accurately and effectively.
It also means patients can receive radiotherapy to tumours that move during treatment, for example when they breathe or when their bladder fills. This will make the machines particularly useful for treating lung, cervical, prostate, bowel and bladder cancer.
Delivering radiotherapy more precisely won’t only make the treatment more effective, it also reduces side-effects in the surrounding healthy tissue. MR Linac machines have been installed at The Institute of Cancer Research and The Royal Marsden Hospital NHS Foundation Trust – both in London – and the first patients are due to be treated later this year, initially through clinical trials. MAJOR PROSTATE BREAKTHROUGH A new way of treating prostate cancer could boost survival rates by almost 40%, according to new research. A study by researchers at Birmingham University in England found that adding the hormone therapy abiraterone at the start of treatment meant patients whose disease had spread to their pelvic area or other organs were 37% more likely to be alive after three years.
Currently patients whose cancer has spread to surrounding tissue are given only one type of hormone therapy to block the action of the male sex hormone testosterone, which fuels tumour growth.
The study – which involved 1 900 men – found that abiraterone actually shuts down the production of this hormone.
“These are the most powerful results I’ve seen from a prostate cancer trial,” says Professor Nicholas James, who led the trial. “It’s a once-in-a-career feeling. This is one of the biggest reductions in death I’ve seen in any clinical trial for adult cancers.” STATINS BOOST SURVIVAL RATE Research seems to indicate that statins – drugs widely taken to lower cholesterol – also reduce the risk of dying from breast, bowel, prostate, ovarian and bone cancer. A major new study involving almost 200 000 women with breast cancer found the cholesterol-lowering pills boost survival rates by 40% by halting the growth of tumours.
This could lead to the drug being routinely used to treat the disease alongside surgery and conventional drugs such as chemotherapy.
The study, done by scientists at the National Cancer Centre in Beijing, China, found that women who’d taken any kind of statin were 27% less likely to die from cancer within four years than those who’d never taken the drug.
Patients taking the commonly prescribed simvastatin and atorvastatin were 43% less likely to die from the disease. Scientists believe statins stop cancer cells growing and dividing and might also boost the immune system.
A separate 2015 US study on 22 110 men with prostate cancer found that those who happened to be taking statins were 42% less likely to die from the disease. NEW HOPE FOR HEAD AND NECK TUMOURS An immunotherapy drug has been hailed as a potential “game changer” after being found to greatly improve survival of patients with advanced head and neck cancer, forms of the disease that have proved notoriously difficult to treat.
Nivolumab is the first treatment to extend survival in a phase-three clinical trial (where it was compared with standard treatment) for patients with head and neck cancer in whom chemotherapy had failed – and it did so with fewer side effects than existing options.
After a year, 36% of patients treated with the drug were still alive compared with 17% of those treated with chemotherapy, according to the study of 361 patients published in the New England Journal of Medicine last year. These patients are currently expected to live less than six months. The drug works by stimulating the immune system to fight cancer cells.
“These results indicate we now have a new treatment that can significantly extend life and I’m keen to see it enter the clinic as soon as possible,” says Kevin Harrington – a professor of biological cancer therapies at the Institute of Cancer Research in London and a consultant at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust – who led the trial.