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Asked by to Sandra, Amy, Anita, Daryl, Nimesh on 19 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by , , , , .
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Daryl Jones answered on 19 Jun 2014:
Hi bendrig!! Good to hear from you!
Yes, there are some cures to some types of cancer. Cancer is a funny thing because for some people one drug might cure them, but for others it might not. So cancer is very “personal”- and requires personal treatment plans!Some cancers have a high rate of being cured- for example, testicular cancer can be cured in about 95% of men if it is found early! So people should always check their bodies for lumps, and go STRAIGHT to the doctor if a lump is found. The sooner treatment is started, the more chance of surviving 🙂
So my advice for boys is to check your testicles, and for girls check your boobs. It really can and does save lives. Also, always remember to check moles and make sure they look healthy. But it’s also important not to get too worried about these sorts of things because some people can worry too much and become obsessed with worrying! a healthy balance is good- being aware of your body and how it should be normally 🙂
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Anita Thomas answered on 20 Jun 2014:
Dear bendring,
I had left this question for one of the others – after all, I don’t work with cancer. But I can answer it from a non-cancer Scientist perspective, if you like.
We do have cures for some cancers. Some cancers are very local and discrete (ie have good boundaries), and these we can surgically remove. Sometimes this is fully successful, but not all of the time, of course. Occasionally the cancer may have spread before the operation, and sometimes a few cells may have been accidentally left behind. Some cancers we treat using radiation or chemicals to kill the cancerous cells. This is also often successful – but once again, not all of the time. Some cancers we treat using targeted delivery of drugs etc, and this is more like the work that I do. Some cancers we treat by replacing the diseased cells with healthy cells (as in a bone marrow transplant).
So, the simple answer to your question is “yes” there are cures for many types of cancer.
Cheers,
Anita. -
Nimesh Mistry answered on 20 Jun 2014:
Cancer is complicated so the answer is complicated.
Yes if you can kill the cancerous cells but that can vary by the type of cancer and it how bad it has got.
If you find some cancers early to treat it then yes you can kill the cancerous cells. If the same type of cancer gets so bad that it has spread all over the body then the same chemotherapy won’t work because it’s got so bad that you won’t be able to reverse it.
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Amy Monaghan answered on 26 Jun 2014:
Hey Bendring – awesome question
I had to think about this for quite a while. Cancer is one of my specialist areas so I’ll answer first by saying yes, we can cure almost all cancers if we catch them early enough by either removing the tumour or a bone marrow transplant. The problem is that a lot of cancers don’t have symptoms until they are more dangerous. This is why things such as breast and cervical screening for girls and prostate exams for older men are so important to catch cancer early. The better we get at detecting cancers, the easier it will be and more we will cure.
As far as drugs go, chemotherapy helps in almost all cancers by killing dividing cells. This is because cancer cells divide much much faster than healthy cells so we can kill them selectively. Unfortunately this is why people’s hair falls out as they are also a fast dividing cell – but hair grows back!
We also have antibodies now for lots of cancers, including leukaemia and breast cancer. We also have different drugs that treat cancers – usually more than three for each different disease!!
The most difficult cancers to cure at the moment are pancreatic cancer and advanced melanoma, because we don’t have very good animal models of these diseases. But we are getting much better and hopefully in the near future all cancers will be curable!!!
Sorry it took me so long to answer! Amy
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