Good news has been coming out lately about cancer treatment. In late 2007, the National Cancer Institute reported that treatment was improving survival time for people with many types of cancers, including those with breast and colon cancer, leukemia, and lymphoma.
Research into new tools for diagnosing cancer and new treatments to attack it may be the source of even more good news in coming years. In some cases, doctors can already talk about a cancer cure.
"The goal really is 'cure.' In today's world, the majority of women diagnosed with breast cancer, for instance, are cured of their cancer. It's realistic to talk about that," says Michael Naughton, MD, a cancer specialist and assistant professor of medicine at Washington University in St. Louis. His research specialty is breast cancer, but he treats patients with a variety of cancer types. "In certain cancers, like lung cancers, cure is not a frequent event. But our overall goal is to move things in that direction for everybody with cancer," he says.
What to Expect in Future Cancer Treatment
Dr. Naughton predicts a number of exciting developments in coming years that might help get people closer to a cancer cure. Here's a look at two particularly promising trends:
Targeted therapies. Targeted cancer therapies block signals that prompt cancer cells to grow and divide out of control, according to the National Cancer Institute. A number of drugs in this category are already available, such as rituximab (Rituxan), used for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and trastuzumab (Herceptin), used for breast cancer.
Another targeted therapy, imatinib mesylate (Gleevec), has been in the headlines for several years now. This drug has been a "home run" for chronic myelogenous leukemia and for gastrointestinal stromal tumors, Naughton says.
The coming years will find researchers "continuing to investigate cancers, finding appropriate targets, and then designing drugs to hit those targets. In the next decade, it's going to be more specific drugs so we hit the target more cleanly — so you get fewer side effects and a more active drug," Naughton adds. By combining targeted drugs in cancers with poor cure rates, like lung cancer, "that's where probably we're going to make real headway," he says.
Molecular profiling. A tool doctors currently use with women with breast cancer is called Oncotype DX. This diagnostic test allows doctors to measure the activity of 21 genes in certain breast tumors, which helps predict the likelihood that the cancer will return and determine the proper treatment.
"Where previously I would have said a woman needs chemo, based on everything else, if she comes back with a low-risk score [on the Oncotype DX test], she doesn't need chemo," Naughton says. A similar tool for colon cancer should be available in the near future, with other types of cancers likely to follow.
Naughton is optimistic about the future of molecular profiling. "This is going to explode. We're going to be doing this type of analysis all over the place within the next decade," he says. "In today's world, if I know that drug X works well for breast cancer, if you have breast cancer, I'm going to use drug X. Within 10 years, I'm going to do a molecular profile and say, 'OK, you need drug A, B, C, or D based on that profile.'"
With the latest advances in modern medicine and technology, the finish line in the race for the cure appears closer than ever before.
Last Updated: 12/4/2008