Question: Are there any things to stop cancer or what have you found out about it?

Ciarán O'Brien answered on 11 Nov 2014:

There are 2 big problems with cancer.

The first is that there are many different types of cancer, and what works against one type won’t always work against another.

The second is that some cancers are caused by your body having certain genes that are a bit prone to going wonky and causing cancer, so if there’s a history of cancer in someone’s family, the chances are high that they and their children can get the same type. We can’t change our genes, so anyone unlucky enough to have those genes is at risk of getting cancer for the rest of their lives.

But there are things that can stop cancer once it starts. If the cancer is in the form of a tumor, a skilled surgeon can often cut it out of your body. We can blast the tumor with deadly radiation if it’s growing somewhere too delicate for a surgeon to cut into. that’ll kill the cancer cells and the dead material will be broken down by your body’s regular defences.

Chemotherapy is another option, although it’s not a pleasant one. That’s where doctors inject chemicals into your blood that will kill cancer cells. The problem is that these chemicals are very dangerous to humans and they’ll cause a lot of damage to your body, so it’s taking a bet that the chemicals will kill the cancer before they kill you! Sometimes it’s the only option because the cancer is in your blood, so there’s no lump to cut out or hit with radiation.

Scientists are working on new ways to stop cancer all the time. They’re coming up with kinds of chemotherapy that are less damaging to our bodies, and some are even working on nanotechnology (absolutely tiny machines) that will recognise cancer cells and attack them.