Search Topic: Developments inCancer research

keyword:

Development: improvement,

Cancer: Tumour

Research: Experimentation


Group members:

Wei Kiat

Jun Jia

Benjamin wong

Ramitha

Renin

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Content

1. Introduction
2. What causes cancer?
3. New chemotherapy drugs
4. Aresenic Trioxide
5. AML in older patients
6. Resistance to chemotherapy
7. Skin Cancer
8. Risk Factor
9. Types of Skin Cancer
10. Cancer Treatment
11. Conclusion
    
    
    

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Introduction

Cancer is a group of cell which carry diesease. Sometimes they can spread over time, thus, increasing the level of fatality. Cancer can be caused by either genetic mutations or our own doings. (e.g. eating too much burnt food might cause one to get cancer). Many people may think that cancers are inevitable, but some cancers are prevented if you take good care of your body.

List of preventable cancer:

-Breast Cancer
-Cervical Cancer
-Colorectal Cancer
-Lung Cancer
-Oral Cancer
-Ovarian Cancer
-Prostate Cancer
-Testicular Cancer
-Skin Cancer

Proper diet, exercise and other healthy behaviors can also help to prevent cancers.

Various type of treatment

~Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is a kind of treatment that uses chemical substance to treat the disease.

~Radiation Therapy
Radiation therapy is a kind of treatment that uses ionizing radiation to control the growth of the cancerous cell. In other words, it is use to prevent canerous cell from growing.


~Surgery
Surgery is used for minor cancer. It is carry out by removing the cancerous part of the patient's organ/body parts.
Such treatment cannot be perform once the cancer cell has metastasized.


by wei kiat on Jan 18, 2008

What causes cancer?

It’s very hard to predict a certain reason for cancer. Some viruses can increase the risk of some cancer types. Cancer is not contagious; no one can catch cancer from another person.

Cancer develops gradually as a result of a complex mix of factors related to environment, lifestyle and genetics. Scientists estimate that 80% of all cancers are related to the use of tobacco products, what we eat and drink, and to a lesser extent, cancer-causing agents in the environment and workplace. Some people are more sensitive than others to factors that can cause cancer due to their medical condition.

Some factors known to increase the risk of cancer:

• Tobacco

• Diet

• Alcohol

• Chemicals

• Ultraviolet Radiation

by Ramitha on Jan 18 2008

Why research?

All treatments have to be fully researched before they can be adopted as standard treatment for everyone. This is so that

• We can be sure they work
• We can be sure they work better than the treatments that are available at the moment
• They are known to be safe

First of all, treatments are developed and tested in laboratories. For ethical and safety reasons, experimental treatments must be tested in the laboratory before they can be tried in people. If a treatment described here is said to be at the laboratory stage of research, it is not ready for patients and is not available either within or outside the NHS.

New chemotherapy drugs

New drugs are being developed all the time. It is most important that we know that these drugs work - and whether they work better than the drugs we currently use. For this reason, drugs have to go through a long testing process. You will often only be able to get new drugs within clinical trials. To start with, trials are often carried out in patients who have had all available treatment.

Arsenic trioxide

A drug made from arsenic has been developed and is licensed in the UK for treating a type of acute leukaemia called acute promyelocytic leukaemia. The drug is called arsenic trioxide. At the moment, this drug is only licensed for people who have acute promyelocytic leukaemia that

• Has come back (relapsed) even after successful treatment
• Is resistant to treatment - this means that leukaemia cells are still in the bone marrow after you've had standard treatment

AML in older patients

Treatment can vary depending on your age when diagnosed with acute leukaemia. This is not discrimination. It is because you have to be extremely fit to get through some very intensive treatment and the older you are, the less likely you are to be fit enough. The good news is that the age threshold does keep going up as we get better at managing the side effects and impact of these treatments. And generally speaking, doctors tend to think about these things individually for each patient. After all, you can be in your 50s and not as fit as some people who are in their 60s or even older. There is another reason for needing different treatment when you are older. If you needed a stem cell transplant, your chances of having a brother or sister fit enough to be a donor, even if they were a match for you, are much lower.

The AML16 trial is a large trial for people over 60 who have AML or a high risk form of a related disease called myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). It is also open to some younger patients who aren't suitable for the AML15 trial. AML16 is in 2 parts. Your doctor will decide if you are fit enough for the intensive treatment part of the trial, or if you should go on the non-intensive part.

Resistance to chemotherapy

One difficulty with treating leukaemia and other cancers with chemotherapy drugs is that the cancer gradually becomes resistant. In other words, treatment that worked before no longer does. This is because the cells of many cancers have an overactive gene called mdr1. This stands for multi-drug resistance. Briefly, cells that carry this overactive gene make a protein that causes the cancer cell to pump out any chemotherapy drug that gets inside. Other drugs have been tried that can overturn this. But so far they have been too toxic.

Sometimes leukaemia is resistant to chemotherapy or comes back after treatment. Relapsed or refractory leukaemia can be more difficult to treat and doctors are not always sure what the best treatment is.

by Jun Jia on Jan 29 2008

Skin Cancer

Skin cancer is a malignant growth on the skin which can have many causes. Skin cancer generally develops in the epidermis (the outermost layer of skin), so a tumor is usually clearly visible. This makes most skin cancers detectable in the early stages.It is estimated that over 1 million new cases occur annually. The annual rates of all forms of skin cancer are increasing each year, representing a growing public concern.

Risk Factors

Skin cancer is most closely associated with chronic inflammation of the skin. This includes:

1. Sunburn or excessive sun damage, especially early in life. UVA & UVB have both been implicated in causing DNA damage resulting in cancer. Sun exposure between 10AM and 4PM is thought to be most harmful. Natural (sun) & artificial UV exposure (tanning salons) are associated with skin cancer.
2. Chronic non-healing wounds, especially burns. These are called Marjolin's ulcers based on their appearance.
3. Genetic predisposition, including "Congenital Melanocytic Nevi Syndrome". CMNS is characterized by the presence of moles of varying size that either appear at or within 6 months of birth. Nevi larger than 20 mm (3/4") in size are at higher risk for becoming cancerous.
4. Have a family member with skin cancer.
5. Are over age 50.
6. Have light-colored skin, hair and eyes.

Types of Skin Cancer

The most common types of skin cancer are:

Basal Cell Carcinoma(BCC):
It is the most common form of skin cancer.It can be destructive and disfiguring. The risk of developing BCC is increased for individuals with a family history of the disease and with a high cumulative exposure to UV ligth via sunlight or, in the past, were exposed to carcinogenic chemicals, especially arsenic.Treatment is with surgery, topical chemotherapy, X-ray, cryosurgery, or photodynamic therapy. It is rarely life-threatening but, if left untreated, can be disfiguring, cause bleeding, and produce local destruction.

by Renin on Jan 18, 2008 - originate from http://uir-rawkz.wetpaint.com/page/My+thoughts

Cancer treatment

Cancer surgery — an operation to repair or remove part of your body to diagnose or treat cancer — remains the foundation of cancer treatment. Your doctor may use cancer surgery to achieve any number of goals, from diagnosing your cancer to treating it to relieving the symptoms it causes. Cancer surgery may be your only treatment, or it may be supplemented with other treatments, such as radiation, chemotherapy, hormone therapy and biological therapy.

How is cancer surgery used in treatment:

• Cancer prevention. If there’s reason to believe that you'll develop cancer in certain tissues or organs, your doctor may recommend removing those tissues or organs before cancer develops. For example, if you have a genetic condition called familial polyposis, your doctor may use cancer surgery to remove your colon and rectum because you have a high risk of developing colon cancer.
• Diagnosis. Your doctor may use a form of cancer surgery to remove (biopsy) all or part of a tumor — allowing the tumor to be studied under a microscope — to determine whether the growth is cancerous (malignant) or noncancerous (benign).
• Staging. Cancer surgery helps your doctor define how advanced your cancer is, called its stage. Surgery allows your doctor to evaluate the size of your tumor and determine whether it's traveled to your lymph nodes. Additional tests might be necessary to gauge your cancer's stage.
• Primary treatment. For many tumors, cancer surgery is the best chance for a cure, especially if the cancer is localized and hasn't spread. If there’s evidence that your cancer hasn't spread, your doctor may recommend surgery to remove the cancerous tumor as your primary treatment.
• Debulking. When it's not possible to remove all of a cancerous tumor — for example, because doing so may severely harm an organ — your doctor may remove as much as possible (debulking) in order to make chemotherapy or radiation more effective.
• Relieving symptoms or side effects. Sometimes surgery is used to improve your quality of life rather than to treat the cancer itself — for example, to relieve pain caused by a tumor that's pressing on a nerve or bone or to remove a tumor that's obstructing your intestine.

Surgery is often combined with other cancer treatments, such as chemotherapy and radiation. Whether you opt for additional cancer treatment depends on your cancer and its stage.

By benjamin on 31 jan 2008

Conclusion

Most of the common cancers can be prevented by having proper diets and regular exercises. The major cause of cancers is intaking of products that contain tobacco (e.g. cigarettes). Unlike most cancers, skin cancer is usually caused by excessive sun tanning, sun burn or non-healing wounds. There are many ways of treatment to cancers. Different treatments can be used for every cancer patient. The treatments used can depend on, but are not limited to, the following factors: Physical strength, Mental strength, Cancer type and Cancer stage.


by wei kiat on 31 Jan 2008