Cosmosophy: The war against cancer is a failure because we have not to be at war against it but to be smarter than cancer!

mardi 1 décembre 2015

The war against cancer is a failure because we have not to be at war against it but to be smarter than cancer!

"Introduction

Despite the progress made in diagnostic capabilities and therapeutic armamentarium over the forty years since the National Cancer Act of 1971 was signed into law on December 23, 1971, cancer remains the number 2 cause of death in the United States (just below heart disease). Half of men, a third of women, and 1 in 330 children will fight cancer in their lifetime and half of Americans will have cancer when they die. Benefits from the three major treatment approaches have now reached a glass ceiling. In 1971, less than 50% of advanced cancer patients lived 1 year and today after hundreds of billions spent still less than 50% of advanced cancer patients live 1 year while undergoing standard treatment. Moreover, surviving five years is a rare event. Importantly, based on major changes in our understanding of the cancer process and information theory, it is now recognized that, like their hosts, no two cancers are the same; the genetic/epigenetic alterations in different cancers are diverse and heterogeneous resulting in unique ecosystems including tumor cells in symbiotic relationship with the recruited surrounding cells (Egeblad et al., 2010; Floor et al., 2012). This explains why two patients with the same cancer, disease stage, and treatment often have very different responses ranging from complete response to rapidly progressive disease. The reason for the variance in response is the inability to target the rewired core mechanisms associated with each individual’s cancer. The ability to do so is truly “personalized cancer therapy”: the new frontier of cancer medicine."