Cancer and Oncology Research

The main aim for cancer treatment is to abolish or cure the cancer. There are different types of cancer treatments and therapies based on, from which cancer the person is suffering from and how advanced is the disease.

The different types of cancer treatments are:

• Chemotherapy
• Radiotherapy
• Immunotherapy
• Stem cell or bone marrow transplantation
• Open surgery
• Gene therapy                                                                            

 Targeted therapies are also available for some cancers such as

• Small molecule medicines
• Monoclonal antibodies

Cancer pharmacology include studies of the basic mechanisms of signal transduction related with cell proliferation and apoptosis, the implementation of action of anti-neoplastic agents, the outline and discovery of new drugs, basic mechanisms of DNA repair and DNA damage tolerance and development of novel strategies for gene therapy.

Cancer treatment vaccines are a type of immunotherapy that treats cancer by building up the body’s natural protect against the cancer.

Cancer treatment vaccines are of three different ways:

• They can be made of your own tumour cells. This means they are custom- built so that they cause an immune response against factors that are unique to cancer.
• They may be made from tumour-related antigens that are found on cancer cells of many people with a specific type of cancer. This kind of vaccine can cause an immune response in patient in which the cancer produces that antigen.
• They may be made of your own dendritic cells, in which it is a type of immune cell. Dendritic cell vaccine stimulate the immune system to respond antigen on tumour cells.

Cancer immunology is a branch of biology that is regarding understanding the role of the immune system in the growth of cancer the most common application is cancer immunotherapy which utilises the immune system as a treatment of cancer. Cancer immune surveillance and immuno editing are based on protection against growth of tumours in animal systems and determination of targets for immune recognition of human cancer. Monoclonal antibodies, as strong antitumor tools, have achieved high importance in the clinic. The use of antibody engineering methods has made it possible for investigators to develop antibody structures with better antitumor effects.

The "Cancer bioinformatics" focuses on the growth in the advancing field of systems clinical medicine in cancer which accommodates the systems biology, clinical science, omics-based technology, bioinformatics and computational science to advance the diagnosis, therapies and prognosis of cancer.

• Focuses on the perception of cancer biology from an informatics perspective.
• Provides a combined conceptual framework for studying different cancer related problems by considering cancer a process of cell survival through cell proliferation.
• Educates about hypothesis-driven omic data mining and statistical inference of rational relationships to cancer initiation, progression, metastasis and post-metastasis growth.
• Focuses on the awareness of cancer biology from an informatics perspective.

Cancer is a group of diseases which involves abnormal cell growth with the potential to infect or transmit to other parts of the body. These contrast begin tumours, which do not spread. The signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal bleeding, prolonged cough, weight loss, and change in bowel movements. Tobacco is one of the reason of about 22% of cancer deaths. 10% are because of obesity, poor diet, lack of physical activity, or excessive drinking of alcohol. Other components include certain infections, exposure to ionizing radiation and environmental pollutants. The risk of developing certain cancers can be reduced by avoiding of smoke, maintaining a healthy weight, restricting alcohol intake, intake of plenty of vegetables, fruits and whole grains, get vaccinated against certain infectious diseases, limiting consumption of processed meat, and limiting exposure to direct sunlight.

Physical examination: Doctor may feel some areas of the body with lumps which may indicate cancer. In the period of physical examination, doctor may look for abnormalities, such as changes in colour of the skin or elongation of an organ, which may indicate the presence of cancer.

Laboratory tests: Laboratory tests, such as urine and blood tests, may help doctor to recognise abnormalities which show the indication of cancer. For example, in people with leukemia, a common blood test called complete blood count may give an unusual number or type of white blood cells.

Imaging tests: Imaging tests allow doctor to examine bones and internal organs. The tests that are used in detecting  of cancer which may include a computerized tomography (CT) scan, bone scan, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), positron emission tomography (PET) scan, ultrasound and X-ray, among others.

Biopsy: During a biopsy, doctor gather a sample of cells for testing in the laboratory. There are different ways of collecting a sample. Which biopsy procedure is right depends upon the type of cancer and its location.

Nanotechnology is the application of materials, with organised structures, devices, or systems at the atomic, molecular, or macromolecular scales. At the length scales, approximately the 1-100 nanometer range , single and specific physical properties of matter exist, which can be easily manipulated for a desired application or effect. Nanoscale structure can be used as individual unit or integrated into larger material elements, systems, and architectures.

Tips that have to be followed are:

Tip 1: Maintenance of healthy weight

Tip 2: Intake of Limit added sugars and solid fats

Tip 3: Balance the portions of Red and Processed meats

Tip 4: Focus on plant protein

Tip 5: Avoid or Limit Alcohol

Tip 6: Choose foods first                                                                                                                                         

Cancer research is used to identify causes and develop approach for prevention, identification, therapy, and cure. Cancer research ranges from epidemiology, molecular bioscience to the execution of clinical trials to assess and compare the applications of the various cancer treatments.

• Medical oncology
• Radiation Oncology
• Surgical Oncology
• Clinical Oncology
• Paediatric Oncology

Haematology is the study of blood, blood forming organs and blood disorders. Haematologists and haematopathologists are highly skilled healthcare provisioners who are specialized in diseases of the blood and blood components. Haematological tests can help in identifying anemia, infection, haemophilia, blood-clotting disorders.

Some of the haematology tests include are:

• White blood cell count (WBC)
• Red blood cell count (RBC)
• Platelet count.
• Haematocrit red blood cell volume (HCT)
• Haemoglobin concentration (HB)
• Differential white blood count.
• Red blood cell indices

Genomic medicine is an advancing medical discipline that requires emerging using genomic information about an individual as part of their clinical and the health outcomes and policy implications of that clinical use. Genomic medicine makes an impact in the fields of oncology, pharmacology, rare and undiagnosed diseases, and infectious disease.

Some of the concepts in genomic medicine are:

• Biomarker:  Also known as bio marker, it is of any element that can be used to evaluate a particular disease state..A genomic biomarker is DNA or RNA is a predictable indicator of normal biologic process.
• Codon: DNA or RNA nucleotides or bases that are referred in groups of three (e.g., ATG, AUG), which are called codons.
• DNA:  Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is the carrier of genetic information. DNA consists of four nucleotides or bases (A, T, G, and C). DNA can replicate itself.
• Gene:  A gene is a state of sequence of DNA that serves as the basic unit of heredity. “Gene” comes from the Greek word genos, meaning birth.
• RNA:  Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is a single-strand copy of the DNA sequence that plays a key role to help the cells to carry out instructions for making a protein. RNA consists of four nucleotides or bases (A, U, G, and C).

The 2 main key points of early detection of cancer are early diagnosis and screening.

Early diagnosis

Early diagnosis programmes aim by decreasing the proportion of patients who are treated at a late stage. They have 2 main components:

1. Increase in awareness of first signs of cancer, between physicians, nurses and other health care sources as well as the general public; and
2. Improved availability and cost effective diagnosis and treatment services, and improved referral from first to secondary and tertiary levels of care.

Screening

Screening is used for simple tests, across a healthy population to identify the individuals who have a disease, but do not have any symptoms. Examples like breast cancer a clinical breast exam is performed, and cervical cancer screening using pap smears, human papillomavirus test or visual inspection with acetic acid.

Hormone therapy is a cancer treatment that slows down or stops the development of cancer which uses hormone to grow. Hormone therapy is also known as hormone treatment, or endocrine therapy.

Hormone therapy is used to:

• Treat cancer. Hormone therapy can reduce the chance of cancer that will return or stop or slows the growth.
• Ease cancer symptoms. Hormone therapy is used to reduce or prevent symptoms in men with prostate cancer who are not able to have surgery or radiation therapy.

Types of Hormone Therapy

Hormone therapy is of two groups, that block the body’s ability to produce hormones and those that involve with how hormones act in the body.

When hormone therapy is used with other treatments then it can:

• Makes the tumour cells smaller before surgery or radiation therapy. This is called neo adjuvant therapy.
• Decreases the risk that cancer will come back after the main treatment. This is called adjuvant therapy.
• Destroy cancer cells that have reappear or spread to other parts of your body.

Complementary and alternative medicine are the terms for medical products and practices which are not part of standard medical care.

People with cancer may use complementary and alternative medicines to:

• Help to cope up with the side effects of cancer treatments, such as nausea, pain, and fatigue
• Comfort themselves and ease the worries of cancer treatment and related stress
• They feel they are taking care for themselves
• Try to medicate or cure their cancer

Complementary medicine is used along with standard medical treatment but is not considered by itself to be standard treatment.

Alternative medicine is used instead of standard medical treatment.

Palliative care is a special medical care for the people who are living with serious illness. This kind of care is concentrated on giving relief from the symptoms, stress and illness.Palliative care is performed by the doctors, nurses and other specialists who are specialised in training in this field for taking care of the patients. This care is based on the patients need and not on the prediction.

There different types of palliative care are:

• Social
• Economical
• Mental
• Physical
• Spiritual
• Emotional

Stage1: In this stage, the tumour is small and did not grow outside the organ.

Stage2: In this stage, tumour is larger than the first stage but did not spread to the tissues.

Stage3: In this stage, the tumour is large and has been spread to the tissues and the lymph nodes.

Stage4: In this stage, the tumour has spread entire into the body, blood cells or lymphatic system.

A disease that is caused due to the growth of tumour cells of uncontrollable division of cells.

Some of the cancer types include carcinoma, leukemia, sarcoma, tumours.

• Breast cancer
• Cervical cancer
• Brain cancer
• Bone cancer
• Kidney cancer
• Liver cancer
• Lung cancer
• Oral cancer
• Pancreatic cancer

Cancer is the one of the most dangerous diseases in the world today. There are many types of treatments available to prevent or cure the cancer. It is also known as group of diseases.

Current innovations in cancer research are:

• Implantation of radioactive elements at the site of deadly tumour: brain cancer, cervical, prostate, and other cancers.
• Precision cancer medicine administration
• Nutraceuticals application
• Stem-cell therapy
• Nano medicine
• Computational picturing of pathology
• RNA based transcriptase analysis
• Dynamic BH3 profiling