• Question: is there a cure for cancer ?

    Asked by 424furk43 to Kieran, Kathryn, Joanne, Chris, Sarah on 7 Nov 2017. This question was also asked by 279furk43, 434furk43.
    • Photo: Kathryn Schoenrock

      Kathryn Schoenrock answered on 7 Nov 2017:

      We have a lot of drugs that help fight cancer. people are always looking for more too. Some of the scientists I work with look at the drugs that sea sponges, squirts, and slugs make to see if they can help fight cancer. Those drugs are made by the animals so that they can fight off their predators even if they are a small soft animal. A good example of this is here: https://www.uab.edu/antarctica/images/archives/UABinA2004/main.uab.edu/antarctica/Templates/Articleab0c.html?pid=294

    • Photo: Chris Werner

      Chris Werner answered on 9 Nov 2017:

      There are cures for certain cancers, but because there is so many types that affect different part of the body its unlikely we’ll ever find a cure for all of them soon. Some treatments include radiotherapy. There is so much research going into it so hopefully one day we can cure all cases!

    • Photo: Joanne Duffy

      Joanne Duffy answered on 10 Nov 2017:

      Every type of cancer is so different that there will never be one “cure”. Cancer happens when a cell in your body goes bad, and lots of other cells (copies of that bad cell) are bad too. So the problem is that if you find something that will kill those cells, like a drug or radiation, it will also kill healthy cells. So the race is always on to find something that can kill only the “bad” cells and leave the healthy ones alone. This is totally different depending on if the cancer is in your blood or your brain or your bones so it takes lots of work. Luckily there are lots of brilliant people all over the world researching better ways to treat cancer.

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