Cancer is one of the most common disease globally now, accounting in

approximately 1 in 4 deaths. There are 200 different forms of cancer which are
triggered by different mutations, so that is the reason why medical science do not
take it as a single disease. Cancer is a disorder in the body that arises due to
abnormal cell growth. It arises when cell division is not controlled precisely.
Cancerous cells that's why divide repeatedly and rapidly forming a tumour, that is
an irregular mass of cells. Cancer is born when there is a mutation in genes. That
mutated gene is named as oncogene. This oncogene if manages to survive and is
not destroyed by the immune system, it creates daughter cells that contain the
faulted genes. This keeps on dividing and then a stage comes that is known as
metastasis where cancer starts spreading in other parts of the body through the
circulatory system. It gives rise to secondary growth, meaning that now cancer has
spread to other parts of the body and it is destroying healthy tissues. Recovery
from this stage is nearly impossible.

It is said that cancer does not have any proper or definite treatment that can cure
permanently, however some treatments can aid the body to fight cancer and to
control the growth of cancer to increase life span and improve the quality of life of
the patients. But a group of scientists and researchers are now debating over the
treatment of cancer. They are questioning that, is the so-called treatment of cancer
an actual treatment? According to them the treatment of cancer is not treating the
patients but is making their condition worse. However, this a very strong
statement as the treatment is not completely ineffective but yet it is not something
we can rely on as we do for other diseases.

Dr Mark of Duke University stated that:

"When you give a tumour treatment, whatever cells survive are going to be more
resistant to that treatment."

So, we can see in this statement that cancer treatment although treat some
tumours, but those that are left become much more aggressive and this could be
dangerous for the patient. However, this is not a piece of evidence to reject the
benefits of chemotherapy and radiation. But, as seen new cancer treatments are
required other than chemotherapy and radiation. Chemotherapy and radiation
have other side effects on the patient which can contribute to additional problems.
Additionally, those cancer cells that survived now can target the immune system as
well by getting into the bone marrow. It will drop the number of white blood cells
made by the body in the bone marrow. This will also make the patient more likely
to get infections as immunity is weakened.

The other common problem faced during chemotherapy is that it destroys normal
and healthy cells as well. Now Researchers in the US found that the healthy cells
damaged by chemotherapy secreted a protein in more amount, called WNT16B,
that boasts cancer cell survival. Co-author, Peter Nelson, of the Fred Hutchinson
Cancer Research Center, told AFP that:

"The increase in WNT16B was completely unexpected."

WNT16B is when secreted, would interact with nearby tumour cells and cause
them to grow, invade, and importantly, resist subsequent therapy according to
Nelson. This accelerates the growth of tumour cells between treatments.

Although, there are several treatments available for people and one surprising
treatment that many are not aware of is "Do Nothing Treatment".Some
Researchers are stating that not every cancer needs treatment. Sometimes it is a
better option not to treat cancer. And previous cases have shown that some
cancers vanished on their own without treatment. An article published by Newyork
times elaborated on the topic. The link is given below for more information.

To conclude, I would state that medical science is not completely able to

understand the science of cancer growth and treatment. However, there is no
second opinion about the claim that we need more advanced cancer treatment as
the treatments available currently are not saving a sufficient number of patients.

https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/27/health/27canc.html

NIDA BATOOL