Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States and has probably touched somebody that you know, or maybe even you. Along with heart disease and dementia, it is a notorious killer — cutting life far too short and stealing some of our most precious moments. What’s worse is that traditional treatments, like chemotherapy and radiation, often end up ravaging the body in their effort to improve the chances of survival.
Fortunately, the future of cancer detection and treatment has never been more promising, and science is about to deliver an unprecedented bounty of breakthrough technologies — from tools aimed at prevention and early detection to cutting-edge therapies, cures, and treatments that can supercharge our own immune systems to battle and stop cancer from the very beginning.
GRAIL Test: Detecting Cancer Early On
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you knew you were going to get cancer before it happened? One of the biggest challenges with detecting cancer is that so few preventative tests exist, and unfortunately, the majority of cancers are found at an advanced stage, after symptoms emerge.
But that’s all about to change with one of the most promising diagnostic breakthroughs in decades with GRAIL — a simple blood test that is able to detect most major cancers at the earliest stages when they’re easiest to treat.
Here’s how it works: The test searches for tiny fragments of DNA and RNA that have been released into the bloodstream by a tumor and that reflect the tumor’s genomic features. GRAIL’s technology is so sensitive that it can detect even a faint signal that an early tumor exists. Astonishingly, GRAIL promises to improve detection of the 20% of cancers for which we already have a screening mechanism, while also providing a new way to screen for the other 80%.
The future of GRAIL is promising. Jeff Gruber, GRAIL’s founding CEO and vice-chairman, envisions that the general public will be able to access this test at their annual doctor's visits, just like you’d expect to have your cholesterol and glucose levels checked. And in 2020, Illumina — the company that incubated GRAIL as a startup — announced its plan to fully acquire the technology in a deal worth $8 billion, making the possibility of early detection that much more of a reality.
Immunotherapy: The Promising Alternative to Surgery, Chemotherapy, and Radiation
While early intervention is looking ever-more promising, cancer is not always detectable, leaving us wholly dependent upon the treatments that are currently available — surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. Unfortunately, these treatments don’t always increase the chances of survival, and often leave the body worse off than it was to begin with.
For the first time in history, we have much better options, all built on the idea that the immune system can eliminate cancer. Here are eight up-and-coming technologies that are transforming how we treat cancer:
CAR T cell Therapy: This adoptive cell transfer treatment uses genetically enhanced immune cells to treat cancer. Scientists create CAR T cells by slipping a new gene into billions of a patient’s T cells, which have been removed by a simple blood draw. Once the genetically engineered T cells are returned to the patient, they go straight to the tumor cells and morph into a lethal fighting machine. CAR T cells are also able to replicate themselves, so a single treatment could potentially be a permanent cure. In fact, two of the first people treated with CAR T cell cancer therapies are still in remission 12 years later. Five CAR T cell therapies have been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, to treat leukemias, lymphomas, and myelomas, and tens of thousands of people have already received treatment.
Checkpoint Inhibitors: The name comes from the fact that they block (or inhibit) the brakes (or checkpoints) that tumors use to fend off T cells, which help the body fight infection, and ward off cancer. By clearing a path for T cells to attack cancer, checkpoint inhibitors make it possible to survive cancers that used to be a surefire death sentence.
Personalized Cancer Vaccines: These are customized vaccines are designed to target mutated proteins called neoantigens that are unique to a patient's tumors. As of 2020, clinical trials were underway or on the drawing board for a slew of neoantigen vaccines developed to combat illnesses like glioblastoma, triple-negative breast cancer, advanced melanoma, and non-small-cell lung cancer.
Natural Killer (NK) Cells: NK cells are harvested from human placentas (that would otherwise be thrown away) and are engineered to attack cancer. Placental NK cells are invaluable, as they secrete high levels of enzymes that break apart tumor cells, along with a toxic cocktail of proteins called cytokines that also kill tumor cells.
Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes: These are T cells that have already burrowed into a tumor, and are then removed, grown in large numbers in a laboratory, and then given back to the patient to help the immune system kill the cancer cells. They are able to attack solid tumors, and beat cancer longer than CAR T cells do, possibly even permanently. Over half of patients with advanced melanoma have benefitted from TILs, with their cancer remaining in remission.
Cancer-Fighting Exosomes: This treatment is showing promising results in combating one of the most lethal cancers of all — pancreatic cancer. Exosomes, the messenger vesicles that are released naturally from a cell, are engineered to contain tiny bits of a DNA relative called siRNA. These siRNAs interfere with a cancer-causing protein, which is the result of a mutation found in 80% of people with pancreatic cancer. In experimental treatments in mice, these “iExosomes” clustered around the pancreas, shrinking the tumors and stopping cancer from spreading.
Focalyx Technology: This new technology is available right now, and is helping to treat prostate cancer without the debilitating side effects. The in-patient procedure involves using a specialized MRI to detect tumors in the prostate gland, and then gathering samples in a way that is less invasive than normal. Having located any suspicious lesions, the cancerous cells are then destroyed with intense cold or heat, preserving the healthy prostate tissue and its function.
Pathways to Restoration: One biotech company, Biosplice, is attempting to create a small-molecule drug that attacks six different cancers: Prostate cancer, triple-negative breast cancer, non-small-cell lung cancer, ovarian cancer, endometrial cancer, and colorectal cancer. Cancer is the result of cell division gone wild, and these drugs rejuvenate the signaling pathway that dictates to cells how to differentiate.
As you can see, this series of technological advances has incredible momentum, and the potential to change the face of cancer prevention and treatment as we know it. Learn more about these incredible breakthroughs, and more, in Life Force.
