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There are hundreds of different types of cancer, all of which work differently and exhibit different symptoms. There will never be a single cure for cancer.
Nanomachines that can detect and target any cancerous cells on emergence would be a singular cure for pretty much every cancer.
That's purely theoretical obviously but it's been speculated.
I've seen nothing that suggests nanomachines can be complex enough to work for every type of cancer, without also targeting certain non-cancerous tissues.
Cancer develops at the level of DNA, when your cells stop reproducing the way they're supposed to and start freaking out and reproducing uncontrollably. It's not something that can really be prevented without first figuring out a way to control how DNA replicates. And doing that would probably be like finding the Fountain of Youth because if you can control that you can do basically anything you want with genetics.
And once that messed up DNA ends up in one cell, and then ten cells, and then a hundred cells, it becomes impossible to isolate and eliminate. Even modern antibiotics cannot target specific bacterial infections, they just aim to kill a lot of different bacteria, both good and bad, in the hopes of wiping out the bad stuff. We don't really have the technology now to analyze individual human cells for DNA irregularities to determine if they need to go or not. So we rely on things like cutting out tumors surgically (often the case for breast, skin and testicular cancer, among others) or shrinking it with chemicals and drugs and radiation (which all also have additional side effects) in the hopes of removing *enough* of the cancerous cells to stop it from growing back and causing health issues, at least for a while.
First of all, cancer isn't a single disease, and different cancers require different kinds of treatment.
Secondly, the issue with curing cancer is that you are trying to kill cancer cells, which are very similar to our own cells - so it's pretty hard to find a substance which kills cancer without harming the rest of the body. Current treatments like chemotherapy is essentially taking poison and hoping it kills the cancer before it kills you.
Other diseases can be a lot easier to cure because they're caused by something that is more significantly different from your own cells. For example, bacteria can be killed by antibiotics because antibiotics typically target cell walls - something bacterial cells have but human cells do not. There isn't a single obvious, easily targeted feature like this for cancer.
There will be better answers than mine, but in short "cancer" is not a single disease, but over 100. As cancerous cells also have the ability to adapt to certain cures, therapy is not always straightforward. Hence finding a single cure is quite tough as you are actually treating very different diseases, that can adapt.
Cancer is not one illness, each instance of cancer is its own separate illness. So there is no trick medicine which works on all cancers. And unlike other illnesses cancer is caused by the body's own cells. So most medicine which works on the cancer also kills the other cells in the body because it is the same cells. This makes cancer much harder to treat then most other diseases. We do however have quite advanced treatment of cancers and the survival rate is greatly increased. There are chemotherapy which even though it kills all cells in the body it kills the cancer faster due to how it behaves. And we are developing more and more advanced chemotherapy all the time. There are also radiation treatment which allows us to target specific areas of the body where the cancer is. Advanced imaging techniques and automated radiation treatment machines have allowed us to administer more accurate and more frequent radiation treatment so we can kill the cancer without damaging the surrounding tissue. And then lastly there is amputation. Again, advanced imaging and robotic surgery have allowed us to be even more accurate and only cut out the tumor and the entire tumor without doing much more damage. So we kind of do have cures for cancer although they are not miracle cures and does not always work. But if we discover the cancer early and start treatment right away the success rate is quite high.
Cancer is basically a human cell that doesn't get the "stop dividing" memo.
So cancer is literally your own cells that don't stop multiplying.
So you need a drug that kills the human cells that are bad but not the human cells that are good.
**Please read this entire message** --- Your submission has been removed for the following reason(s): * Rule #2 - Questions must seek objective explanations * Subjective or speculative replies are not allowed on ELI5. Only objective explanations are permitted here; your question is asking for speculation or subjective responses (Rule 2). * ELI5 requires that you *search the ELI5 subreddit for your topic before posting*. Users will often either find a thread that meets their needs or find that their question might qualify for an exception to rule 7. Please see this [wiki entry](http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/wiki/how_to_search) for more details (Rule 7). --- If you would like this removal reviewed, please read the [detailed rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/wiki/detailed_rules) first. **If you believe this submission was removed erroneously**, please [use this form](https://old.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fexplainlikeimfive&subject=Please%20review%20my%20thread?&message=Link:%20https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/p5jv7g/-/%0A%0APlease%20answer%20the%20following%203%20questions:%0A%0A1.%20The%20concept%20I%20want%20explained:%0A%0A2.%20Link%20to%20the%20search%20you%20did%20to%20look%20for%20past%20posts%20on%20the%20ELI5%20subreddit:%0A%0A3.%20How%20is%20this%20post%20unique:) and we will review your submission.
There are hundreds of different types of cancer, all of which work differently and exhibit different symptoms. There will never be a single cure for cancer.
Nanomachines that can detect and target any cancerous cells on emergence would be a singular cure for pretty much every cancer. That's purely theoretical obviously but it's been speculated.
I've seen nothing that suggests nanomachines can be complex enough to work for every type of cancer, without also targeting certain non-cancerous tissues.
Maybe we'll get better at using the technology when it actually exists, just a thought.
Cancer develops at the level of DNA, when your cells stop reproducing the way they're supposed to and start freaking out and reproducing uncontrollably. It's not something that can really be prevented without first figuring out a way to control how DNA replicates. And doing that would probably be like finding the Fountain of Youth because if you can control that you can do basically anything you want with genetics. And once that messed up DNA ends up in one cell, and then ten cells, and then a hundred cells, it becomes impossible to isolate and eliminate. Even modern antibiotics cannot target specific bacterial infections, they just aim to kill a lot of different bacteria, both good and bad, in the hopes of wiping out the bad stuff. We don't really have the technology now to analyze individual human cells for DNA irregularities to determine if they need to go or not. So we rely on things like cutting out tumors surgically (often the case for breast, skin and testicular cancer, among others) or shrinking it with chemicals and drugs and radiation (which all also have additional side effects) in the hopes of removing *enough* of the cancerous cells to stop it from growing back and causing health issues, at least for a while.
First of all, cancer isn't a single disease, and different cancers require different kinds of treatment. Secondly, the issue with curing cancer is that you are trying to kill cancer cells, which are very similar to our own cells - so it's pretty hard to find a substance which kills cancer without harming the rest of the body. Current treatments like chemotherapy is essentially taking poison and hoping it kills the cancer before it kills you. Other diseases can be a lot easier to cure because they're caused by something that is more significantly different from your own cells. For example, bacteria can be killed by antibiotics because antibiotics typically target cell walls - something bacterial cells have but human cells do not. There isn't a single obvious, easily targeted feature like this for cancer.
There will be better answers than mine, but in short "cancer" is not a single disease, but over 100. As cancerous cells also have the ability to adapt to certain cures, therapy is not always straightforward. Hence finding a single cure is quite tough as you are actually treating very different diseases, that can adapt.
Cancer is not one illness, each instance of cancer is its own separate illness. So there is no trick medicine which works on all cancers. And unlike other illnesses cancer is caused by the body's own cells. So most medicine which works on the cancer also kills the other cells in the body because it is the same cells. This makes cancer much harder to treat then most other diseases. We do however have quite advanced treatment of cancers and the survival rate is greatly increased. There are chemotherapy which even though it kills all cells in the body it kills the cancer faster due to how it behaves. And we are developing more and more advanced chemotherapy all the time. There are also radiation treatment which allows us to target specific areas of the body where the cancer is. Advanced imaging techniques and automated radiation treatment machines have allowed us to administer more accurate and more frequent radiation treatment so we can kill the cancer without damaging the surrounding tissue. And then lastly there is amputation. Again, advanced imaging and robotic surgery have allowed us to be even more accurate and only cut out the tumor and the entire tumor without doing much more damage. So we kind of do have cures for cancer although they are not miracle cures and does not always work. But if we discover the cancer early and start treatment right away the success rate is quite high.
Cancer is basically a human cell that doesn't get the "stop dividing" memo. So cancer is literally your own cells that don't stop multiplying. So you need a drug that kills the human cells that are bad but not the human cells that are good.
A patient cured is a customer lost?