Understanding the cancer ecosystem: Survival rates could double within 10 years

Scientists believe that the next decade will see many medical breakthroughs that could double the survival rate of people with advanced cancer. This is because the body’s ability to fight cancer itself increases, tricking healthy cells into limiting themselves in order to help the cancer survive. .

World-leading experts at the Institute for Cancer Research (ICR) in London and the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust in the UK say cutting-edge research will help more people get cured and others live much longer. says it means

Cancer scientists are becoming more and more knowledgeable about what they call the “cancer ecosystem.”

It is a complex system that allows cancer cells to grow, consisting of molecules, cells, and structures that surround cancer cells, the immune system, and tumors and help them grow.

Experts at ICR and Royal Marsden believe that several methods of attack are used to destroy cancer cells, increase the body’s ability to fight cancer itself, and trick healthy cells into surviving cancer. We believe we can make great strides in areas such as blocking ways to help.

One such development is expected to destroy the ability of cancer cells to tell other cells in the body to come and support the tumor.

For example, cancer cells now send signals to areas such as the bone marrow telling ‘slave cells’ to ‘nest’ in other parts of the body for the cancer cells to build a home.

Disrupting these systems can help stop the spread of cancer.

Further areas of development include combining existing treatments for better efficacy and using immunotherapy to help the body’s own immune system fight cancer.

Kevin Harrington, professor of biological cancer therapeutics at ICR and consultant at Royal Marsden, said in a briefing, “We recognize the fact that a patient’s cancer mass is more than just a mass of cancer cells. I’m here.

“It’s a complex ecosystem, and within that ecosystem there are elements that lend themselves to more advanced forms of targeting, giving us a vast array of opportunities to treat more patients and have fewer side effects. will provide to

He said that instead of killing cancer directly, experts “use drugs that work with the immune system to boost the ability of cells to attack cancer cells and slow down or downregulate their function.” I’m already learning how,” he said. It naturally tends to protect cancer cells. ”

He said this “shifts the balance within the cancer ecosystem towards an environment that is more conducive to the anti-cancer efficacy of our standard of care and the novel treatments we develop.”

One avenue of research is to use genetically engineered viruses to “target cancer cells and interact with the microenvironment, the ecosystem in which cancers reside, to reject cancers and transform those cancer cells.” is to drive a signal that kills the Harrington said.

The researchers will also expand their studies to look at microscopic fragments of cancer released into the bloodstream, with the goal of catching disease at its earliest stages and providing information that can help treat it.

“We plan to open up an entirely new attack vector for cancer that will allow it to overcome its lethal ability to evolve and become resistant to therapy. We hope to discover better targets within tumors and the broader ecosystem that can be attacked with drugs, discovering powerful new ways to completely eradicate oncoproteins, thus reducing cancer on multiple fronts. We are discovering smarter combinations that attack,” said Dr. Olivia Rossanese, Director of Cancer Drug Discovery at ICR.

“By combining this three-pronged approach, we can make cancer care smarter and kinder, with fewer side effects and longer patient lives.”

ICR Chief Executive Professor Kristian Helin launched a joint five-year research strategy, stating: Research has been the driving force behind significant improvements in treatment in recent decades, but it is important to target the ecosystems necessary for cancer growth, or disrupt the balance and eradicate cancer. believe that it can be eradicated. immune system. “

Scientists hope to use artificial intelligence (AI) to design new ways to combine drugs or finely tune dosages to block or slow cancer growth.

They also hope to learn more about how different types of cells within tumors team up and work together, potentially opening up new targets for therapy.

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