Cancer research
Many people wonder why we do not yet have a way to cure cancer.
Even though we have made a lot of research, it is not easy to cure cancer. Why?
Cancer research is also a slow process in stages. It involves collecting and analyzing data from research laboratories and studies of people with cancer. What seems very promising in the laboratory does not always work in people.
It often takes many years for a new test or treatment to become available outside of a clinical trial.
Despite everything, we are in an encouraging period. Cancer research in Canada and around the world continues to bring us closer to the day when many cancers are cured and others are treated as chronic diseases like diabetes and asthma.
Advances in technology have helped us gain a better understanding of the causes of cancer, how it manifests, ways to prevent it, better ways to treat it, and ways to improve the quality of life for people with cancer. this disease.
Cancer research has helped people with cancer survive longer. Today, more than 60% of Canadians with cancer will survive at least 5 years after being diagnosed. This is a big improvement over the 1940s when the 5-year survival rate was around 25%. As we deepen our knowledge, progress in the fight against cancer will be even greater.
Cancer research is applied to a wide range of activities and aspects of scientific study. These types of cancer research allow us to deepen our understanding of this disease.
Basic cancer research
Basic cancer research helps us understand how cancer starts, develops and spreads (metastasis). Basic research focuses on cells and takes place in the laboratory, where researchers try to understand the differences between normal cells, healthy cells, and cancer cells.
The more we learn about cancer cells, the more we can understand why some treatments are effective and others are not. Researchers doing basic cancer research focus on the unique characteristics of cancer cells, such as certain genes that are active or inactive, or certain substances found on cancer cells (tumor markers).
A better understanding of these characteristics can help doctors establish a diagnosis, prognosis and treatment plan for people with cancer.
Researchers are also trying to learn more about the tumor microenvironment, the region that surrounds cancer cells inside the tumor.
How cancer cells interact with the tumor microenvironment will help us learn more about how cancer appears, develops and spreads, as well as why some tumors are sensitive to certain treatments but resistant to other.
Translational research
Translational research examines what we have learned in the laboratory and brings it to the bedside - then returns it to the laboratory where we try to find out more.
Theories from experiments on cancer cells or animal models need to be confirmed in real human cancers using patient data or tumor samples. Researchers take what they've learned from basic research into how cancer starts, develops and spreads and checks to see if that knowledge matches what we see in people with cancer.
The results obtained at the bedside of people with cancer are used to revise the theories which are then taken up in the laboratory so that it can be checked whether the data can be used to discover better treatments for patients.
The process of taking what we have learned in the laboratory and actually applying it to people with cancer often takes a long time.
It takes many laboratory experiments and many tests in humans (clinical trials) to prove that a certain test or treatment will be more beneficial than harmful to people with cancer.
Clinical research
As soon as researchers find a promising idea to evaluate based on the results of translational research, they can start testing their idea with larger groups of people.
Clinical research is one of the most important methods of improving the treatment and management of cancer, and of understanding what increases or decreases a person's risk of developing cancer.
clinical tests
The clinical trial is a research study that assesses new ways to prevent, detect, treat or predict cancer. The clinical trial also aims to find ways to improve the quality of life for people with cancer.
The clinical trial allows us to carefully study a promising treatment or a suspected link between cancer and a substance or behavior. Cancer treatments often seem to be effective in laboratory tests or in small groups of people.
However, researchers must demonstrate that these treatments are safe and that they work for a large group of people before Health Canada approves them and doctors prescribe them for people with cancer.