In 2020, cancer was a main cause for deaths worldwide, amounting for 1 in 6 deaths worldwide. Today, it's no different, and the death tolls keep rising. As cancer gets more deadlier, fighting it can be a hassle, and to fight it off, we need to unite as one - humanity. And although there are many ways to fight this off, one true surging possibility has emerged - oncolytic viruses.
First, let's discuss about cancer itself. Cancer, according to the WHO, is ,"a large group of diseases that can start in almost any organ or tissue of the body when abnormal cells grow uncontrollably, go beyond their usual boundaries to invade adjoining parts of the body and/or spread to other organs." What does this exactly mean? Cancer is a natural disease in almost all multi-cellular organisms. It is when our bodies(or any multicellular organism) has a bit of a malfunction while the genetic 'code' is being copied down. Our bodies are constantly replenishing our cell count, because all of our cells will naturally die out soon. The body does this in a process called mitosis, and during this, cells can inherit mutated genes(most likely because mistakes happen). Now, our human body acquires trillions of mutations daily, but most of these are harmless. But, when cells' DNA gets mutated often(6 times is usually the number), then cancer can show. Cancerous cells are like inefficient workers in a factory. All the other cells work for the benefit of the whole body, while cancerous cells take in nutrients and hoard them, causing them to grow and it can be like having another entity within you. When cells do not work for the benefit of the human body, organs can fail, leading to death. Usually, our immune system can identify the mutations that go on in our body, leading to the termination of the cancer cell colony. But, each time the cancer cells die out, natural selection comes into play - they evolve and gain new mutations to help avoid the immune system. This could be blending into normal cells more easily or ordering more nutrients to grow. Soon, it gets harder for our immune cells to combat this, leading to the growth of a tumor. This tumor is the real problem, as it can grow and kill regular cells as it orders more nutrients to itself. It can also 'switch off' our T cells(AKA Cancer combat). The T cells are one of our most important weapons to combat against cancer, and cancer takes that away. Soon, chemotherapy and radiation techniques are used to disrupt cancer.
As we know, chemotherapy and radiation are some very destructive techniques that have a failure rate. But, an introduction of oncolytic viruses as an addition to the previous options can help increase success rates. They are viruses that selectively target cancer cells and tumors. The process of selecting a virus for this work is complicated and is still in research, but essentially, scientists can modify the genetic material of viruses to target cancer cells. For example, scientists will remove the genetic material that targets the regular human body's cells, and they will add specialized genes to target the cancer cells. Soon, this could be a real possibility for the future of cancer medication, as it will speed up the process.
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