According to reports, a recent study into lung tumors has left researchers perplexed because the major findings suggest that tumor cells have an “almost infinite” ability to adapt and survive, implying that a universal treatment for the condition is unlikely to be found any time soon. While the study stated that there is no universal treatment for cancer, there is a greater need to shift attention to prevention measures.
Cancer must be discovered at an early stage, according to Cancer Research UK. The investigation, titled TracerX, discusses the evolution of cancer and its causes. It is important to realize that cancer cells can change and are constantly changing. These cells can become more aggressive and avoid detection by the immune system. It spread to other sections of the body as well.
The study was conducted on lung cancer patients
The study was conducted on lung cancer patients, but it is said to apply to all types of cancer. Biopsies were obtained from various sections of the lung cancer of over 400 persons being treated at 13 UK hospitals for the study.
According to Professor Charles Swanton of the Francis Crick Institute and University College London, “that has never been done before at this scale.”
“I don’t want to sound too depressing about this, but I think – given the almost infinite possibilities in which a tumor can evolve, and the very large number of cells in a late-stage tumor, which could be several hundred billion cells – then achieving cures in all patients with the late-stage disease is a formidable task.”
Professor Swanton said he does not think the universal cure is going to be able to come up by medical research any time soon. “If we want to make the biggest impact we need to focus on prevention, early detection, and early detection of relapse,” Swanton added.
The study also reveals that tumors with higher levels of genomic “chaos” are more prone to return to other places of the body following surgery, which sheds further insight on the sorts of cancers. One of the explanations given in the study is that cellular machinery might become compromised, causing cells to become more aggressive.
“The exciting results emerging from TracerX improve our understanding that cancer is a disease which evolves as it progresses, meaning that late-stage cancers can become very hard to treat successfully,” said Dr. David Crosby, head of prevention and early detection at Cancer Research UK.
“This underscores the crucial importance of further research to help us to detect cancers at the earliest stages of their development or even better, to prevent them from happening at all.”