World Cancer Day – a Hopeful Date

It’s time to share good news about one of the most feared diseases

New technologies and discoveries are making cancer a treatable disease

I remember when I was little, my parents and grandparents would never say the word “cancer”. It sounded like a death threat, a condition so serious that, if only mentioned out loud, could contaminate others. Time has passed and even they started to fear it less: my grandmother had breast and skin cancer and a long, healthy life after treating it; my father-in-law is in remission from a prostate cancer and is planning to go on his third transatlantic trip, confident about what the future might bring. Although cancer remains a serious disease that should be swiftly treated and carefully monitored, the latest discoveries and technologies regarding detection and treatments had made it less terrifying. And on this World Cancer Day, we would like to share some good news:

Cervical cancer detection and prevention: more than 100 countries have successfully introduced the vaccine against HPV. It gives a very positive prospect to future cases of cervical cancer, knowing that teenagers are the vaccines’ target audience.
Liquid Biopsies: widely used to detect prostate and ovarian cancer cases through a blood test, the liquid biopsy is less invasive and painful than current detection techniques as colonoscopy, needle biopsy and mammography. The FDA has just approved liquid biopsies for lung cancer – and a wider use is to come.
Medical cannabis: in 2002, the Netherlands have pioneered the implementation of medical cannabis access programmes to cancer patients. More recently, other European countries have given the green light for this complementary treatment, as well as many US states and countries like Australia, Brazil, Canada, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
More drugs available: Cambridge scientists have discovered that more than 50 approved drugs that were not traditionally used to treat cancer have capabilities to kill cancerous cells without harming healthy ones. The researchers found that drugs developed for treating diabetes, reducing inflammation and controlling alcohol addiction were among those with good potential for treating cancer.
Recovering capacity: a recent discovery by UK researchers shows that our body has an impressive capacity of recoverage from damage. They found that the lungs of ex-smokers can quickly regenerate and hence reduce the risks of developing cancer.