Why the ‘War on Cancer’ is Oversimplified

Posted on May 11, 2016 by Ruth Kava

In 1971, then-president Richard Nixon set in motion a national movement to, as he put it, cure cancer. Considering the state of our understanding at that time, he can be forgiven for what was an impossible task. But now our understanding of the processes leading to neoplastic disease — especially since the mapping of the human genome — has been greatly amplified, and we should be talking about curing “cancers,” not “cancer.” Take, for example, what we speak of as one disease — breast cancer.

Sure, we know that some breast cancers grow when stimulated by the female hormones  estrogen and/or progesterone. Others may not respond to those, but are promoted by epidermal growth factor. These subtypes can be treated by targeted therapies (such as tamoxifen or Herceptin), and often with good results if they’re caught early. But that just scratches the surface, as a recent report from Great Britain demonstrates.......That study showed that breast cancer is really 10 different diseases...... 40 mutated genes that cause breast cancer progression — most of which had not been previously identified......To Read More....