The word ‘cancer’ usually invokes the grief of a terminal illness in one’s mind. But, not all cancers are that devastating.
Before I answer your question, I need to explain a few important medical concepts that everyone, in general, needs to know about cancer.
Cancer is a term used for any mass growing out of an uncontrollable cell division.
Note that the word ‘uncontrollable’ doesn’t mean uncontainable. The word cancer is often mixed up with malignancy and it doesn’t necessarily have to be a malignancy. There are quite a lot of innocent tumours or lesions that are benign, more importantly, that have no chance of becoming malignant. But, for this discussion, let us assume that we are referring to the malignant cell, capable of metastasis (spreading to other tissues and infiltrating them).
Secondly, the word cancer itself is more of a condition indicator than a word by itself. It is usually written after a word for the organ that is affected, to report a clinical condition of uncontrollable cell division in the affected organ, viz., lung cancer. I must stop here to point out that all lung cancers aren’t necessarily of the same type. There are numerous types of lung cancers–some deadly, while others not-so-deadly.
Thirdly, there is a misconception that cancer is caused only by mutations. This is one of the most spread half-knowledge that people are falling prey for. Cancer or neoplasm is not just caused by mutations, but by many other aetiologies. To list a few, some strains of a virus called Human Papilloma Virus may cause a carcinoma cervix; a small proportion of people suffering from AIDS may develop a variant of Kaposi’s Sarcoma; Excessive exposure to ionising radiation can cause malignant melanoma; Smoking can cause small-cell carcinoma of lungs; Alcohol consumption beyond safe limits can cause hepatocellular carcinoma; Hormonal dysregulation can cause ovarian carcinoma, people might end up developing carcinoma because of genetic factors; These are some of the commonly known and discussed aetiologies for cancers. I have barely scratched the surface when I listed all these aetiologies.
Further, every person with ‘small-cell carcinoma of the lung’ has a slightly different version of same cancer. The cancer cells, just like us, have different levels of maturity. It would suffice for a non-medical person to know that in general, the lower the maturity of the cell, the higher the potential to be malignant.
Let us say we have figured out everything about all these concepts and made a complete list of aetiologies, categorised all the cancers into their respective divisions (which is much harder than it seems) and have found ways to diagnose and classify every type of ‘cancer’ that mankind will ever see, you will still be taking the first step in the field of cancer treatment. Enter Molecular Biology.
This is one field of medicine that can be summed up in one line ‘You know what is happening, you think you know how it’s happening, just when you assume can control what’s happening, you realise you can’t even see it.’ Complicating this further is the simple math of permutations and combinations. Single protein might contain hundreds and thousands of amino acids in sequences, the permutations of which are unimaginably huge. And, the best (or worst) part is, even if a small nitrogen atom is off by one bond, the whole protein winds up being just a useless spec floating in the vast intracellular space, sometimes altering the normal path of cell life and making it a nutrition-hungry immortal cellular villain: a.k.a ‘cancer’.
Compounding this is the variety in presentations of same cancer, clinically–which further makes it difficult to diagnose cancer in time, let alone treat it.
Having said that, we must not forget that cancer also includes innocent masses of cells which keep their cells to themselves and are well-capsulated and well-differentiated (matured) and have a very low malignant potential. Tumours like these, often, can easily be ‘scooped out’ of their place through surgeries. Others might need added chemotherapy, which is beyond the point of this discussion.
Our technology limits us to just understanding and observing what is happening while it is nearly impossible to intervene in many cases. In a few others–even if it’s possible–it’s too late, some others might get surgery to prevent spread within a particular organ like the liver.
One potential solution might be nanotechnology. But, it is years ahead in the future.
So, the next time you ask someone about a cure for cancer, remember, that there is more to cancer than just an uncontrolled division of cells.
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