Technology and medicine have discovered many important elements that changed the lives of many people. However, cancer is more difficult to cure than other diseases. Why is cancer so evasive?
One of the obstacles that scientists have to cure cancer is that it comes in many types. One patient can have many types of cancer. Some methods that we have to attack one type of cancer may not work for other types of cancer.
Another reason is that cancer cells are very complex and they may have different behavior in the labs and the body of patients. This change of environment difficulties the investigations. One method to eliminate cancer in the lab may not work in a real patient.
Another reason is that cancer cells can evolve and adapt to protect themselves. They can mutate and adjust their molecular characteristics to survive. When some cancer cells are bombed with chemotherapy or radiation, they can create shields to protect themselves.
Cancer cells can communicate with other cancer cells and with healthy cells to receive resources and to block the immune system.
Despite all the obstacles that exist to cure cancer, scientists have many ways to attack them. One of them is chemotherapy. It was developed after WWII. Scientists noticed that mustard gas could damage the cells from the bones. One similar characteristic from the bones and the cancer cells is that they can reproduce very fast. A mustard gas with lower effects was developed that could eliminate the cancer cells that were exposed due to their constant replication. When they replicate, their DNA is unprotected, and the mustard gas damages it. However, other parts of the body that have a fast reproduction are also affected. The hair cells, mouth cells, bones cells, and the reproductive system are also damaged.
Scientists have improved a lot of investigating cancer, but there are many weapons against the disease that we can discover and one day eliminate it.
