Why cancer research

Together, we can make a real impact and save more lives - now and in the future. The cancer drug olaparib has already helped over 40, people with cancer - and it was all made possible by discovery research that you helped us fund.

What we do All new lifesaving tests and treatments for cancer are reliant on discovery research like the projects you help us fund. Home What we do. See our impact. We start new cancer cures The research journey is a long one. Find out more about the type of research we fund. We asked them which recent advances give them the most reason to be hopeful. An estimated Indeed, it is hard to think of a condition more well known than cancer.

Although cancer is still a leading cause of death globally, scientists continue to make advances in the prevention and treatment of this condition. Looking back just a few decades, people often advised young scientists and doctors against following a career in oncology because of its complexity and the discouraging clinical outcomes.

This is no longer the case, as the authors of one paper note:. To celebrate some of the advances that oncologists are making, we contacted researchers from a number of institutions. We asked them to share recent findings that excite them. First, we heard from Prof. Steve Royle. In healthy cells, there is just one centrosome. It plays a pivotal role in the regulation of cell division. As part of the cytoskeleton, it also provides the cell with structure.

Scientists have known for some time that certain types of cancer cells have multiple centrosomes. This is known as centrosome amplification. It seems that these packets are a way for the cancer cell to communicate with the surrounding tissue. The authors of the paper, which now appears in the journal Current Biology , conclude:.

As Prof. Immunotherapy is a relatively new approach to treating cancer. Drug delivery is an important area of research, as getting cancer drugs to where they are needed can be challenging. In April , Prof. Researchers around the world are in a race to find better ways to prevent, detect and treat cancer and ensure that survivors live longer, better lives. But they know that this race is a marathon, not a sprint. The human body consists of trillions of cells, all of which are growing, dividing and dying every day.

Our bodies keep normal cells under very strict control. They are told when to grow, when to divide and when to die. Cells become cancer cells when they get out of control. Cancer cells grow and divide more quickly than normal cells. With more than different cell types in our bodies and so many ways in which they can change, there are thousands of different cancers.

Cancer research can span from cancer prevention to laboratory research that examines new or improved ways to detect cancer or developing new drugs to fight cancer , from clinical trials to quality-of-life research for survivors. Through the public's generous support, the Irish Cancer Society funds across the range of research areas in line with our mission to ensure fewer people get cancer and those that do have better outcomes. With the help of all our supporters we have played a significant role in several breakthroughs in cancer research since We fund scholarships, fellowships, projects and programmes.

Our research has led to hundreds of discoveries. Each of these new findings have been published in international peer reviewed journals, making this knowledge available to researchers worldwide.

While much of our cancer research will benefit the next generation of cancer patients, research is also extremely important for cancer patients being treated in Ireland today. I started taking immunotherapy, Nivolumab and today I'm still trying to comprehend this good news! Dear Cnahorn, we are doing everything we can to extend the promise of new therapies to children and we have many clinical trials open for pediatric patients. In fact, the majority of our pediatric patients participate in some form of clinical research during their care and, as a result, our pediatric specialists have made some remarkable improvements in the treatment of pediatric cancers over the years.

My wife lost her battle with cancer on April 15th at Sloan Kettering mostly due to the 2 and 4 stage cancer in her lymphnodes that srread through her body to her liver in just 15 months. Also, partly due to the treatment emphasis on research with reduced patient care.

She was put on oxycoten which put her into a comatose state. Her doctor unavailable because it was her month to do research and not be at the hospital.

Another doctor took over adding to her patient load and not available for help to my wife. I finally insisted that the oxycoten be stopped after making a major scene. She became lucid again only to be told that it was now too late to do anything further. She died in my arms. Her doctor, now available, quickly came to her room, hugged me and said "What can I do? As much as I understand the need for research to find an answer to "kill" cancer I believe nothing is more important than patient care and the connection between doctor and patient.

No amount of PR can ever reduce cancer. PR is meant to get money for research and bragging rights neither of which are significant to a patient with terminal cancer.

Dear Ron, we are very sorry for your loss and that you had this experience. Thank you for sharing your story. Thanks to all the doctors, researchers and nurses who are working daily to treat and help their patients. I do agree that some organizations or research universities need to be looking at causes more.

Also I would like to see more opportunities for people with late stage cancer to try experimental treatments, whether chemo, cannabis oil or anything else with medical oversight, even without being in a proper scientific trial. Dear Brij, we are researching the use of precision medicine in liposarcoma. Thanks so much for your question! My wife was just diagnosed with a high grade mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the parotid gland.

Surgery is done but radiation and some chemo are next. What I would not give for her to not have to go through this treatment.

With the advances in cancer research I've read about today, I have to believe a real cure will be available before the next time we hear any more gut wrenching news. My wife had a lumpectomy to remove a stage 1 invasive cancer of the left breast at Sloan Kettering just over a year ago.

Wonderful caring surgeon did a wonderful job in removing the tumor with a lumpectomy, and did such a careful job you can barely tell she had the surgery. She was found to be estrogen positive, hertanu negative. She will be taking an aromatase inhibitor for at least 5 years. They removed the sentinal lymph node and the next node and both were negative for cancer.

She had breast radiation at sloan and did not need chemo. One year post surgery everything looks great. However an enhanced spot below the surgery site was found on the MRI that is slightly questionable.

MY wife has very dense cystic breasts, which is one of the reasons for a MRI. She also had a mammagram which proved to be normal.. The radiologist did not suspect cancer given the spot a 3 score. In other words it is a watch site just to be sure.

Hopefully they will find nothing. In fact at the present time they did not recommend a biopsy. Questions: Unfortunately, if at at time in the future they find another cancerous tumor in her right breast no matter how small, the only option is a mastectomy, as you can no longer do a second lumpectomy if you previously received radiation in that breast. We are fortunate that things look pretty good for my wife.

However, if the next MRI or the one after that finds a recurrence a lumpectomy is no longer an option it would have to be a mastectomy, and removal of all her lymph nodes.

Hopefully, there will never be a need for this. Other than the aromatase inhibitor is there anything else that can reduce the likelihood of a recurrence, such as vegan diet, especially eating dark leafy greens, beans, onions, mushrooms, walnuts? My wife has no relatives who had breast cancer. He father did have prostate cancer later in life but did not die from it. Thank you! Also, here is a link to more information about maintaining a healthy diet and breast cancer.

There are now studies showing that diet and lifestyle may play a role in breast cancer and its recurrence:. The first sentence is incorrect. Her cancer was in her right breast. Her left breast is normal. If your institute is serious about finding solution for cancer then you should provide free of cost cancer review services. You have very limited patients. I do not think you could ever provide a solution by working on limited number of rich patients. Hospital next to me is service patients in a week you guys are serving a year.

Memorial Sloan Kettering actually sees a very large number and wide variety of patients each year—more than , Also, we recently launched the MSK Cancer Alliance, an initiative designed to collaboratively guide community providers toward state-of-the-art cancer care:.