I've heard it advertised lately that there's been new discoveries about cures for cancer that aren't being utilized because of the non-profitable nature of the cure. Any ideas on this and does anyone know anything about this issue? More importantly does anyone know what the cure is or might be?

The thing I noticed is that all the news is expounding the fact that it's a terrible thing that a cure has been found but not utilized, but no one seems interested in the cure itself?

What kind of cancer are you talking about?

Good question, I'm assuming that they're talking about every kind. As I understand it cancer is a disease of the cells, which could be caused by radiation/poor-diet/or whatever.

IDK about every kind, but I'm sure there's cures for some.

If you're really interested you might want to look up 'candida' it's a kind of yeast that is supposedly linked to cancers' growth.

I know that free radical damage in the blood causes cell damage to the point where the cell gets elimiated from body by the immune system but also the free radical damage can cause cancerous cells.
(fight free radical damage with antioxidants)

Actually, the cure was discovered here in Alberta. Here is the article.

EDMONTON, CANADA, May 14, 2011 /NewsRelease/ - Canadian scientists tested dichloroacetate (DCA) on human’s cells; it killed lung, breast and brain cancer cells and left the healthy cells alone. It was tested on Rats inflicted with severe tumors; their cells shrank once they were fed with water supplemented with DCA. The drug is widely available and is easy to use, so why the major drug companies aren’t involved? Or the Media thinking about this find?


Pharmaceutical companies are not investing in this cancer research because DCA method cannot be patented
Researchers at the University of Alberta, in Edmonton, Canada have cured cancer, yet there is a little ripple in the news or in TV. It’s a simple technique using very basic drug. The method employs dichloroacetate, which is currently used to treat metabolic disorders. So, there isn’t any concern of side effects or about their long-term effects.

This drug doesn’t require a patent, so anyone can employ it widely and cheaply compared to the costly cancer drugs made by major pharmaceutical companies.

In human bodies there is a natural cancer fighting Mitochindria, the powerhouse/engine of the human cell, however they need to be triggered to work. Scientists used to think these mitochondria cells were damaged and thus ineffective against cancer. So they used to focus on glycolysis, that is less effective in curing cancer and more wasteful. The drug manufacturers focused on this glycolysis method to fight cancer. This DCA however doesn’t rely on glycolysis instead on mitochondria; it triggers the mitochondria which in turn fights the cancer cells.

The side effect of this could it be also reactivates a process called apoptosis. You see, mitochondria contain an all-too-important self-destruct button that can not be pressed in cancer cells. Without it, tumors grow larger as cells refuse to be extinguished. Fully functioning mitochondria, thanks to DCA, can once again die.

With glycolysis switched off, the body produces less lactic acid, so the bad tissue around cancer cells doesn’t break down and seed new tumors.

Pharmaceutical companies are not investing in this research because DCA method cannot be patented, without a patent they can’t make money, like they are doing with their AIDS Patent. Because the pharmaceutical companies won’t develop this, the article says other independent laboratories should start producing this drug and do more research to confirm all the above findings and produce drugs. All the groundwork can be achieved in collaboration with the Universities, who will be glad to assist in such research and may develop an effective drug for curing cancer.

original article 17JAN2007
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn10971-cheap-safe-drug-kills-most-cancers.html

link to update 16MAY2011

http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2011/05/cure-for-cancer-resurfaces-and.html
Cancer drug resurfaces and threatens false optimism

So, we hear news of a miraculous treatment for cancer. Disappointingly, the story is an old one which has somehow resurfaced on the blogosphere.

When we originally published the story four years ago, it created a frenzy on the internet which took us by surprise. Our story reported a new type of treatment that in animal experiments showed promise of potentially being able to tackle most types of human cancer.

We often report developments in cancer research, but nothing had ever attracted such a wave of interest. The drug involved, a simple molecule called dichloro-acetate, or DCA, appeared to work by blocking the unusual, sugar-gobbling mechanism called glycolysis by which most cancer cells generate their energy, and so which potentially marks them out from healthy cells.

Exposed to DCA, cancer cells stopped making energy from sugar and resumed making it the way healthy cells do, in chambers called mitochondria. This stopped cancer cells from growing and multiplying, and caused them to wither and die instead.

What added to the intrigue was that DCA is such a cheap, simple molecule that no-one has ever patented it. Also, it was already being used to treat rare mitochondrial diseases. Within weeks, patients were trying to get their own supplies of DCA, and some entrepreneurs set up websites to sell it, that were subsequently declared illegal and closed down by the US Food and Drug Administration.

So what happened after the frenzy died down?

The answer is that it was finally tested in five patients with aggressive brain cancer by Evangelos Michelakis of the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, who had conducted the original experiments in animals.

The results, published last year in Science Translational Medicine, revealed that it probably extended the lives of four of the patients, while one other died.

Most importantly, Michelakis demonstrated from brain scans and biopsies that DCA appeared to work as he had predicted, arresting the growth of cancer cells by switching them back to normal energy production in mitochondria. The experiments also showed that beneficial effects took a few months to kick in. Importantly, Michelakis said that despite the small trial, it would be impossible to tell whether DCA works or not until it is tested in a placebo-controlled trial.

As far as we know, no further trials have been conducted, so the jury is still out on whether it may do any good. We reported the new results in New Scientist and included news of other teams around the world developing treatments targeting glycolysis.

Some other treatments that disrupt energy metabolism, such as the drug metformin taken by diabetics, were also showing signs of activity against cancer, for example. So for now, we are a little bit wiser about how DCA might work, but until someone does a much larger, well-organised trial, it would be unwise to assume that taking it will be safe or do any good.

The more encouraging news is that other teams are now investigating the scope for targeting glycolysis, and although it could be a long haul to demonstrate whether any work, it does provide another avenue of attack against a disease which continues to push medicine to its limits.

Any readers wanting to find out more about DCA may find this blog useful, posted by Cancer Research UK.

There's also an excellent blog by National Geographic which goes into even more detail.

promising Research is done all over!

http://immunemedicine.com/


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/9191848/Universal-cancer-vaccine-developed.html


http://edition.cnn.com/2012/04/05/health/diabetes-drug-fights-cancer/index.html?eref=rss_health

All those Poisonous Cancerdrugs might yet become something of the past!

the cure is nutritious food and clean air,water

toxins ruin your genes

we live in a toxic world

but simpletons want a pill

No specific cure, but do so agree with you Volant....healthy lifestyle, clean enviornment would go a very long way as a preventative measure...Too many pills!!

there has been Cancer since the earliest existence of man,actually ever since the emergence of more advanced Life-forms!

Cancer also called is Malignancy and Neoplasms. Cancer is a serious, but curable illness. Cancer is not one disease, but many diseases that occur in different areas of the body. Cancer is a disease characterized by disorderly division of cells, combined with the malignant behavior of these cells. Cancer is usually classified according to the tissue of origin more than the location of manifestations. Prognosis in most cases depends on the original staging of the disease. There are many theories about the cause of cancer. Cell division or cell proliferation is a physiological process that occurs in almost all tissues and under many circumstances. Normally the balance between proliferation and apoptosis, or programmed cell death, is tightly regulated to ensure the integrity of organs and tissues. Imbalances in the rates of cell division and cell death can lead to tumor growth in a tissue. Other events are usually required before metastasis can occur. Locally expansile tumors can also cause severe problems when they grow in certain locations, such as the head or airway. Environmental stimuli, or carcinogens, such as tobacco smoke, radiation, chemicals, or infectious agents, can cause cancer. Cancer can also occur in young children and adolescents, but it is rare. Some studies have concluded that pediatric cancers, especially leukemia, are on an upward trend.

Cancer is caused by exposure to carcinogens (cancer causing substances), which alter and damage DNA. Cancers are classified by the type of cell that resembles the tumor and, therefore, the tissue presumed to be the origin of the tumor. Carcinoma often develops as a result of a very improper lifestyle. Carcinoma: malignant tumors derived from epithelial cells. This group represents the most common cancers, including the common forms of breast, prostate, lung and colon cancer. Lymphoma and Leukemia: malignant tumors derived from blood and bone marrow cells Sarcoma: malignant tumors derived from connective tissue, or esenchymal cells. Mesothelioma: tumors derived from the mesothelial cells lining the peritoneum and the pleura. Glioma: tumors derived from glia, the most common type of brain cell. Germ cell tumor: tumors derived from reproductive cells, most commonly found in the testicle and ovary. Female and male infants have essentially the same overall cancer incidence rates, but white infants have substantially higher cancer rates than black infants for most cancer types. Relative survival for infants is very good for neuroblastoma, Wilms' tumor and retinoblastoma, and fairly good (80%) for leukemia, but not for most other types of cancer.

Tips on Cancer Prevention

1. Limit alcohol.

2. Maintain a healthy weight.

3. Stay physically active.

4. Consider limiting fat in your diet.

5. Avoid prolonged exposure to the sun and other UVA/UVB sources, such as tanning beds.

6. Use ample amounts of sunscreen or sunblock with an SPF of 15 or higher every day, even if it is cloudy.

7. Wear large framed or wrap-around sunglasses to protect the eye area.

8. Have your skin checked by a dermatologist regularly.

9. Do avoid all poisonous chemical substances such as cigarettes, alcohol, car exhaust fumes, as well as fumes belched by factory chimneys, which are very toxic.

10. Anilin is a carcenogenic substance used for colouring food, so try to avoid artificially dyed foods and instead look for natural foods.

http://www.streetdirectory.com/travel_guide/110778/cancer/cancer_preventive_measures_and_tips.html

What's with the war on fat?



Want to prevent cancer? A low carb diet has been proven to not only prevent cancer, but can cure cancer.

Can a High-Fat Diet Beat Cancer?

Research is showing that far from causing cancer, fat can help to cure cancer.

The science is not clear. The controversy is false. Clear case of a manufactureversy.

http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2010/05/dichloroacetate_dca_and_cancer_deja_vu_a.php

http://www.snopes.com/politics/medical/cancercure.asp

Like many drugs it is a mixed bag of results, and in the prelim trials it is unclear of the actual effects it has on specific cancers.



I always wonder why people who will not do the hard work of understanding the actual science are willing to spend much more time trying to convince people there is some kind of conspiracy.

Anyone ACTUALLY interested in the science should click that first link I posted and read the science, make sure to click thru the links, MUCHO source material.

It is true that infinitely more resources are put into cancer research for common cancers than rare ones and, sadly, the reasons for doing so are as economic as humanitarian. My mother died of Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma after great strides had been made in Hodgkins's Disease. Eventually, the Non-Hodgkin's version became treatable too, if caught early enough.

There are many types of cancer. Some are common and some are not. Some are genetic. Some are environmental. Many are caused by a virus. Some are caused by radiation damage. It is highly unlikely that any one cure will be found for all.

Most treatment is based around killing fast growing cells which is why there are side affects like hair falling out. Some of the best new directions in treatment use the body's own defense system to find and kill the cancer cells ... which is how our bodies are supposed to work anyway.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2073280/Cancer-treatment-New-super-vaccine-better-wonder-drug-Herceptin.html

Well said Metalwing!

Depending on the type of cancer science already has cures. The word cure can mean many things, but it is hard to argue that when a person has gone through treatment, and after completing the treatment is never again in their life afflicted by the disease . . . . its cured. So many people with cancer get cures now. However, many cancers are not well understood, and do not respond to our current assortment of treatments.

The moral of the story, anytime anyone says there is a single all powerful cure you should be very skeptical, and work to understand the science and not just take some wiz bang article for granted.