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Originally Posted by oilers_fan
Anyway, I was wondering where all this money goes, and all of the other money raised for different types of cancer. Why is it so expensive to do this research? Does anyone know what they are doing to try and cure it? Does each different type of cancer require a different cure?
Finally, how realistic is it that we will eventually see a cure for cancer in our lifetimes? Sorry, I have a lot of questions regarding this type of thing.
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I thought I would add a little as someone working in this area, and being funded by one of these foundations as a researcher. The non-bolded parts have been well covered by other posters, but I thought I would give a bit more info on the bolded parts.
What people are trying to do ranges from what we call basic science studies (usually lab studies with isolated cell, mice models, rats or other animals) all the way to clinical studies. Some researchers are trying to understand the basic mechanisms which cause cancer-- a lot of factors which cause DNA damage, such as sunlight for skin cancer, are known, but others are a mystery. Other researchers are looking for signals (called 'biomarkers') which allow us to track if the disease is present (for diagnostics), or if its getting better with treatment (prognostic). This would be useful for things like colon cancer screening, as currently the procedures are very invasive and uncomfortable, leading to a number of high risk people avoiding the screen, or brain tumours where right now we have to do open brain surgury to confirm the cancer. Other researchers are in drug discovery and clincial trials, both of which are very expensive as explained earlier.
The question about whether each cancer requires a different cure is actually a lot more difficult to answer than it might seem. The basic biological basis of cancer is rooted in the damage in the DNA in a cancer cell as compared to the normal cell. Many cancers share DNA damage sites, and so for some of these, they could probably use similar treatments. However, each cancer requires multiple sites of DNA damage which means that the chances of finding two cancers with exactly the same damage sites is unlikely. Also, the genes required to work in different tissues is always different, so even if the DNA profile is the same, the way the cancer acts in each tissue would most likely be different (for example lung cancer and skin cancer).
Anyway, I hope thats not too much detail, but I'm happy to answer any questions on it. If you're ever in Calgary I'd be happy to give you a tour of some of our research facilities, just drop me a PM.