Why is cancer so hard to cure? Will we ever find an infallible cure?
In: 2088
Your body is detecting and destroying mutated cells all the time, but the groups of cells we think of as “cancer” have figured out how to do things better than the normal cells around them. They’re stealing more food or making their own blood supply or they’re able to move through tissue and invade other areas where they’re not supposed to be. They’re already harder to get rid of and better at staying alive than your normal cells by the time they become a problem.
Most of our treatments for cancer target cells that grow fast, but you have a lot of cells that grow fast in your body that aren’t cancer. This is why chemo makes you lose your hair, or causes nausea or sores in your mouth (mucosal linings are fast growing too). As others have mentioned, cancer cells “look like you” in a lot of ways because they come from your cells, so your immune system has a hard time recognizing them and fighting them off. Some of the most promising upcoming treatments are trying to “teach” your immune system how to fight back more effectively.
The question of whether or not we will find a “cure” for cancer is a little misleading because it’s not really one disease. The early process is similar in that a cell mutates and then out-competes those around it, causing damage that is ultimately too much for your body to deal with. But a lung cancer is very different from a stomach cancer is very different from a lymphoma in terms of the problems they cause and the damage they do. And people respond very differently to our currently available treatments. Some people tolerate chemo and radiation without too much difficulty while others have side effects that are so bad that they can’t continue the treatment.
I think the best case scenario is that one day we will find treatments that are so good at detecting and targeting cancer cells that we will be able to kill the dangerous cells without hurting the rest of you. Cancer will never stop happening, and if you live long enough, it’ll pop up again and again, but it’ll be like getting rid of weeds in an otherwise healthy garden.
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