• Question: HI, you said that I was helping to design a new drug to block acid reflux in the throat which then leads to cancer. Does this mean that in the future cancer will be gone Thank you :D

    Asked by anarbayram to Wei on 14 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Wei Xun

      Wei Xun answered on 14 Jun 2011:

      Hi!

      I really wish it was that simple! Can I just say that I don’t think all cancers would be cured one day in the future. Every cancer is different, and sometimes in every patient also. Since we only have limited knowledge of what causes cancers and how the tumours progress, we are a long long way away from finding a magic bullet (ie one cure for all), but that certainly doesn’t stop scientists from trying!

      Even if we removed everything that we know could cause cancer, it’s still seem to be related to the aging process. As we get old, we lose the ability to correct mistakes in our cells and DNA and cancers are some of the consequences.

      The drug I was helping to develop was trying to stop the final process tumours kill people, so it wasn’t ever going to cure cancer, but to slow down it’s processes.

      Then again, many cancers have infectious causes such as the Human Paploma Virus (HPV) virus and cervical cancer, which I hope can be eliminated when enough young people get vaccinated against it.

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