Are we finally war against CANCER? Tech blitz boosts boffins’ great strides
A SERIES of scientific breakthroughs could dramatically change the odds for people with cancer.
Treatments that have been put to trial have shown remarkable results – clearing people of tumours and extending lives.
Although many of the drugs and therapies are still in the trial phase, oncologists are hopeful that we could finally be winning the war against cancer.
But what are these wonder treatments and how do they boost our chances of survival? patients in a trial, 33 went into remission – a 94 per cent success rate.
Such figures used to be unthinkable in cancer trials.
The Royal Marsden’s Prof David Cunningham said: “Immunotherapy is the most exciting area of cancer research at the moment. There are a hundred different immunotherapy trials at the Royal Marsden now.”
One such trial tested a drug for tricky- to- treat neck and head tumours. Nivolumab acts by breaking down the barriers to T-cells finding and destroying cancer cells. Prof Cunningham said: “It enables a patient’s immune systems to recognise cancer cells as abnormal.” The results are promising, 36 per cent of patients are still alive after a year compared with only 17 per cent on chemotherapy. long before patients begin to feel poorly. This simple blood test could revolutionise how we identify and treat cancers. The test offers hope for early detection of some of the most deadly versions. Lung, pancreatic and ovarian cancers have low survival rates because they are so often diagnosed at a late stage, when the cancer has advanced. The test is currently £1,500 a pop but doctors are hoping that, with time, the price will come down – making it a realistic option on the NHS. The tests are called liquid biopsies. Prof Cunningham said work is ongoing at The Royal Marsden to make them as accurate as possible. “We don’t want to give people false reassurances,” he said.