Taming Cancer

By Toby Cosgrove, MD

There’s no getting around it. Cancer is a formidable foe. Every new discovery reveals new complexities. We now know that cancer is no single disease, but many diseases. Lung cancer is different from prostate cancer, which is unlike leukemias and sarcomas.

We have every reason to be grateful for President Barack Obama’s recent pledge of more money for cancer research. It’s welcome news to the thousands of scientists worldwide whose tireless search for answers is finally making progress against this ancient nemesis.

Falling death rates

The cancer death rate has fallen 23 percent over the past 20 years in America. Smoking cessation has played a major part in reducing deaths from lung cancer, but death rates from prostate, breast and colorectal cancers are also down, thanks to better treatments and widespread screening.

Refining cancer treatments

Chemotherapy and radiation are still the mainstay treatments against advanced cancers, but over the years they have gone from being bludgeons to fine instruments. Radiation therapy can now be applied with pinpoint precision, minimizing collateral damage. It can even be delivered intraoperatively to wipe out invisible cancer cells on exposed tumor beds.

New drugs have mitigated some of the rigors of chemotherapy, which is becoming more personalized and effective, thanks to genetic profiling. The latest generation of therapies activates the body’s own tenacious immune system against cancer. These immunotherapeutics are being combined with existing drugs to produce long-term remission in metastatic melanoma, and may work against other cancers as well.

Our own anti-cancer ‘moon shot’

Cleveland Clinic researchers are on the verge of launching a Phase I clinical trial of a promising new breast cancer vaccine that has proven very effective in mice. They are also leading the investigation of the human microbiome – the body’s native bacteria colonies – as it relates to different cancers. This is particularly exciting in light of recent Cleveland Clinic breakthroughs linking the microbiome to heart attacks and chronic kidney disease. Proof that microbes play a widespread role in cancer would be a game-changing discovery.

Last year, Cleveland Clinic launched its own anti-cancer “moon shot,” with the groundbreaking of a new comprehensive cancer care building, scheduled to open in 2017. This will be the most advanced outpatient cancer treatment center in the world, offering the best proven treatments, clinical trials, prevention and education, in a patient-centered environment filled with light and hope.

Taking the initiative against cancer

All of us in healthcare are eager to see the next steps in President Obama’s anti-cancer initiative. At the same time, we can’t forget the most effective weapon against cancer in our own lives is prevention. We can drastically reduce our risk of getting certain cancers by not smoking, avoiding alcohol, eating a nutritious diet, maintaining a healthy weight, and getting lots of exercise. I am confident that through prevention and the efforts of valiant researchers everywhere, we can finally begin to tame cancer.

©Russell Lee