Tumors have the ability to "infinitely" grow and survive, an unprecedented analysis of cancer reveals, scientists say.
After nine years of monitoring lung cancer, scientists were surprised by the results, which showed what a terrible force they were dealing with.
Their conclusion is that we need to focus as much as possible on prevention, because the probability that a universal cure will appear in the near future is small.
The British Cancer Research Organization says that early detection of tumors is vital.
The study, titled TracerX (TracerX) shows a detailed analysis of the development and pattern that contribute to the spread of malignant cells.
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Cancers change and develop - they are mobile.
They can become more aggressive: they skilfully evade the immune system and can spread throughout the body.
A tumor appears as a single infected cell, but soon becomes a collection of millions of cells that have individually mutated in different ways.
This study followed this diversity and how it changes in a patient diagnosed with lung cancer.
Similar methods could be applied to other crustaceans.
"Nothing like this has been done before," says Charles Swanton, a professor at the Francis Crick Institute and University College London.
More than 400 people, from 13 different British hospitals, went for the biopsy.
Tissues were taken from different parts of the lungs as the disease progressed.
"I was surprised how adaptable a tumor can be," he tells me.
"I don't want to sound depressing, but given the almost infinite possibilities in which a tumor can develop, as well as the large number of cells in its late stage, sometimes up to several thousand million, it will be a difficult task to cure all patients in these late stages ", says the professor.
"I don't think we will be able to find a universal cure.
"If we want to make the biggest impact, then we have to turn to prevention and early detection of relapse," he says.
Obesity, smoking, alcohol, starvation increase the chances of the appearance of certain tumors.
Monitoring infections in the body is also seen as a form of cancer prevention.
Inflammation due to air pollution that causes lung cancer and inflammatory bowel disease that increases the risk of colon cancer.
Developmental analysis has been published in several different journal studies Nature and Natural Medicine.
The research showed that:
- the aggressive cells in the initial tumor are the ones that eventually spread throughout the body
- tumors that show higher levels of "genetic chaos" are more likely to spread to other parts of the body after surgery
- blood analysis of tumor DNA fragments shows that signs of recurrence can be seen up to 200 days before they appear on a CT scan
- the cellular machinery that reads the instructions in our DNA can be damaged in cancer cells making them more aggressive.
Scientists hope that these findings will help them to predict how the tumor will spread in patients in the future, on the basis of which they could determine adequate therapy.
"The exciting results of the TracerX study advance our understanding that cancer is a disease that develops as it progresses, which means that it is very difficult to treat late-stage cancer.
"This is important in further research to help us detect cancers at their earliest stages, or even better, prevent them from happening at all," explains David Crosby, a doctor who deals with prevention and early detection at Cancer Research UK. .
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