Also, it’s worth noting that as horrible as it is, a LOT of cancer is avoidable (not all sadly).

Lay off the pies, don’t smoke, don’t drink too much and move about a bit and you massively improve your chances of dodging it.

Paul

Social determinants of health are massive and need to be addressed as much as curing the diseases people get in old age.

Agreed

I’m very disappointed that the 100,000 genomes project is going to create a 2 tier health system to fund the next phase of the research. Tho even more upset with that idiot David Willets ( 2brains my arse) who listened to Illumina (the sequencing company) rather than asked academia because it could have been the 10 million (or even 65million) genomes (well exomes) project for the money we’ve spent.

a LOT of cancer is avoidable

No, you can reduce your risk factors, but that’s not the same as saying it’s avoidable. Don’t victim blame (or write something that looks like victim blaming).

I don’t think anyone is victim blaming. I think you are empowering people if they understand the lifestyle factors that can increase or decrease the chances of developing cancer. What people choose to do with that information is an individual choice, but more knowledge is a good thing.

You can’t tie down an individual’s cancer to their lifestyle in most cases- obvious exceptions are things like mesothelioma, and smoking related lung where you can often have a high level of probability that a particular risk factor, occupational exposure or lifestyle was involved.

However, what you can say is that a reduction in potentially harmful lifestyle choices across a population will lead to a substantial reduction in future cancer cases. You just can’t say exactly which people will benefit.

Cancer immunotherapy will move the dial as far as treatment goes – there are no magic bullets for cancer as said above, but this is a huge development. A recent clinical trial in this area was halted due to efficacy, which is not something you hear everyday. The drug was working too well, making it unethical to proceed with the placebo group.

The last Nobel prize for medicine was in this area – v interesting history, a lot of popular science articles on it. Postulated for over 100 years that the immune system could be harnessed to fight cancer, but realising this took decades and decades of research and understanding.

“If thats directed at me, I’m not your pal.”

?? It was a joke you bell, bikebouy. The post I quoted to execute the joke wasn’t even yours so I don’t know why you thought it was? If I haven’t said joke enough it was a joke. A joke about thick leave voters.

Stress is a killer though you’re right…

Dementia will be the next killer after cancer. The route has thus far been
Childbirth > Infectious Diseases > Cardiovascular > Cancer > Dementia …

Some childhood cancers are curable already. Some cancers have been cured using CAR-T therapy in adults. Immune activation to kill cancer has been a revelation in recent years. But… An extension of life expectancy of three months in a trial against standard of care would be heralded as a breakthrough in many cancers. So don’t raise your expectations too much just yet. And yes, I spend a lot of time thinking about it. Professionally and personally.

Lay off the pies, don’t smoke, don’t drink too much and move about a bit and you massively improve your chances of dodging it.

Stay out of the sun and have good genes helps a lot too. The last one can be difficult I’m afraid.