Interactive Resources for Schools
This topic takes on average 25 minutes to read.
There are a number of interactive features in this resource:
Chemistry
Biology
Human biology
PSHE / Citizenship studies
Prevention is better than cure. Avoiding things like an unhealthy diet, lack of exercise, smoking and excessive exposure to sunlight can help reduce the risk of developing cancer. Early detection can also help to catch tumours before they have spread.
Cancer can start anywhere in the body and it can spread to form secondary tumours. Doctors need to be able to tackle the primary tumourprimary tumour
The original site where the cancer started to grow.
as well as any secondary tumours. Often a range of medicines and treatments are used together.
Researchers continue to develop better methods for detecting and treating cancer. The effects of this research and development can be seen in the graph. It shows the increase in people who are surviving for 10 years or more after their cancer was detected.
There is never likely to be one single treatment that can be used against all the different types of cancer. However, researchers are constantly looking for improved treatments that kill cancer cells without being harmful to normal body cells.
| Viruses | Viruses normally infect cells where they reproduce and destroy the cell. This usually causes problems but some viruses are being genetically modifiedgenetically modified This indicates that an animal or plant has had its genetic makeup altered in some way. This is often by combining the genes from different organisms to produce an organism with desirable characteristics. so that they will only infect cancer cells. The virus only kills cancer cells and leaves normal cells unharmed. |
| Stem cellstem cell Cells which can divide repeatedly without becoming differentiated and have the capacity to develop into a diverse range of specialised cell types. s |
Stem cells can be used to replace cells that produce red blood cellsred blood cells Carry oxygen in the blood. They are also known as erythrocytes. , white blood cellswhite blood cells Cells specialised in defending the body against disease. and plateletsplatelets Fragments of cells that circulate in the blood and play a role in the formation of blood clots. in the bone marrowbone marrow Found in the centre of bones, it contains adult stem cells which divide and differentiate to produce red and white blood cells. . This is useful if the bone marrow has been damaged due to radiotherapyradiotherapy Treatment of disease using X-rays or radioactive substances which kill cells. or chemotherapychemotherapy Treatment of disease using medicines that destroy cancer cells. . New research suggests that certain stem cells could also be used to target the destruction of cancer cells. |
| Gene therapygene therapy A new, experimental method of fighting disease by replacing a defective gene with a healthy gene. |
Gene therapy involves getting a section of DNA into a patient's cells. Some researchers are looking at how gene therapy could be used to treat cancer. If a cancer is caused by a faulty gene, then a 'healthy' gene could be inserted into the patient's cells. Other approaches target the immune systemimmune system The body's natural defence mechanism against infectious diseases. to help it fight the cancer cells more effectively. Some treatments are looking at using gene therapy to make cancer cells more sensitive to chemotherapy or radiotherapy. |
| Personalised medicinepersonalised medicine Medical model in which a treatment is customised for a particular patient, designed to work with their individual genome, so treatment delivers the maximum benefit with the minimum risk of side effects. |
Personalised (sometimes called stratified) medicine is already being used for some types of cancer. An example is seen in the treatment of a type of lung cancer. Patients can be screened to see if they have a particular genetic mutationmutation A change in the arrangement or amount of genetic material in a cell. . If they do, doctors know that they are likely to respond well to a medicine called gefitinib (Iressa ©). Knowing this helps to personalise the treatment to be as effective as possible. In the future advances in DNA-sequencing technology may allow doctors to quickly analyse a patient's genetic make-up and see which therapy they will respond to. This will allow doctors to tailor the types of medicines used and so reduce unwanted side effects. |
A virus, called HPVHPV
Human papillomavirus. A group of viruses some of which can be sexually transmitted and can cause genital warts and cancer.
, is linked with the development of cervical cancercervical cancer
Cancer that forms in the tissues of the cervix and is mostly caused by human papillomavirus infections.
. Vaccines have been developed against this virus. In the UK, vaccinationvaccination
The introduction of a small amount of dead or weakened pathogen into the body. It prepares the immune system to prevent future infections with the live pathogen.
against HPV is made available for girls aged 12-13. Researchers are investigating a range of microbesmicrobes
Group of organisms of microscopic size that can be found in a single cell form or forming multicellular colonies. Most microbes are found in the domains of archaea and bacteria, but there are also some eukaryotes.
that may have links with cancer. These include hepatitis B and C viruses with liver cancer and the bacteriabacteria
Single-celled organism. Has a cell wall, cell membrane, cytoplasm. Its DNA is loosely-coiled in the cytoplasm and there is no distinct nucleus.
Helicobacter pylori with stomach cancer. Developing further vaccines may allow people to be immunised against microbes linked with cancer.
Look at picture below. It looks at a 'typical' 100 cases of people who have been diagnosed as having cancer and summarises the treatments and survival rates.
