Future of Breast Cancer

It’s always hard to talk about the future with a subject like breast cancer because there’s no real cure yet and the future seems uncertain. However, it is least to say that many people are very hopeful in finding ways to cope with this disease and the likelihood of finding a cure has gone from futuristic to a reality. According to the article written by Tara Parker-Pope, new research as made great contributions to the prevention of the disease that it has made people comfortable to even talk about the sensitive word – cure. There are talks of change; better ways to detect and treat the disease carefully and maybe even prevent. Like the New Atlantis, it takes a lot of discovery and experimentation to bring about such change but the upcoming of two new drugs (Heceptin and Avastin) are hopeful, researchers feel that “the scientific theory behind the drugs will unlock the secrets of breast cancer.” (Parker-Pope, 1)

Breast cancer is not exactly what it sounds like. The main problem with this is that it seems as if there is one type of tumor in a part of the body. In actuality, cancer is a compilation of many different diseases. This can be due to different hormones and variety of forms or copies of genes. If researchers can figure out and distinguish between these, than there is a strong chance in finding the drugs to work with them, thus improving life. For example, one of the new drugs that are used in therapies is Heceptin which “binds to certain proteins, blocking tumor growth and harnessing the body's own immune system to heal itself.” (Parker-Pope, 2) A study has shown that this drug with chemotherapy has reduced reoccurrences by half! So instead of fighting off cancer with one solution there is going to be many different ways to handle individual parts of the disease. It sound tedious but this outlook gives a pathway to the cure.

“A National Cancer Institute study showed that among women with advanced breast cancer, Avastin plus chemo slowed cancer progression by half.” (Porter-Pope, 3) Avastin is an anti-angiogenesis drug that ultimately blocks the signals that cause proteins to create new blood vessels that feed tumors. Nanotechnology is also helping with the future of experimentation because it “involves devices 80100,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair.” (3) This allows for better detection, prevention and treatment to breast cancer. Instead of doctors having to remove one or more lymph nodes to see how much the cancer has spread, Nanotech can be able to detect it without surgery. This type of technology seems far-fetching to most doctors right now but its slow practice has proved to be not as futuristic and radical as they may think. A new invention called the iFind modernizes how women can do self-breast examinations by finding high levels of hemoglobin (found in cancer).“The device was 96 percent reliable in detecting cancer” (3). Inventions in technology and discovery of new drugs bring up a lot of hope for doctors and for victims of breast cancer, but it are always hard to say when there will be a cure. No one will ever really know because the future is so unknown but these talks are stepping stones to lead to that solution that we’re looking for.

http://www.more.com/health/conditions/breast-cancer/the-future-of-breast-cancer/;jsessionid=F3FZXAV2S2HTNQFIBQNR42Q?page=1