Cancer

Cancer remains one of the leading causes of death worldwide, even though we are able to treat it! This happens largely because it often goes undetected until it has progressed or spread to other parts of the body. Cancer happens when cells develop mutations that cause them to divide too quickly, losing their original function and becoming masses of tissue that can be really harmful in different parts of the body. There are 3 main points in the cancer treatment process that, if improved, would significantly help eradicate cancer. The first and most promising approach to minimizing the impact of cancer on the world is through improving early detection. The sooner a malignancy is found, the better the chances of successful treatment. For example, breast cancer caught at stage 1 has over a 99% five-year survival rate (cancerresearch.org.) The second is actual treatment of cancer which can be made more efficient. And the third is preventing cancer from coming back after treatment by successfully killing all the cancer cells during treatment.

Early Detection

Traditionally, early cancer detection has relied on routine screening tests for certain common cancers and they do different tests for each kind of cancer. These screenings have saved countless lives by finding tumors when they are small and localized. However, many cancers (e.g. ovarian, pancreatic) lack effective routine screening, so they often go undetected until later stages. These tests are also often expensive, take time, and sometimes inaccurate.

Next-Generation Technologies for Early Detection

"Liquid Biopsy tests": The hot new approach to cancer screenings is in "liquid biopsy" tests. As tumors grow, they shed DNA and other biomarkers into the bloodstream. Liquid biopsy tests take a blood sample and scan for molecular traces of cancer. This approach can screen for dozens of cancer types at once and can scan for cancers that today have no routine screening (like pancreatic or ovarian cancer) at a curable stage (grail.com, cancer.orgcancer.org). This approach could revolutionize cancer screenings (fredhutch.org).

AI in Imaging and Diagnosis: Sometimes, even with these screening tests cancer can go unnoticed and continue to grow. Machine learning algorithms can analyze medical images (like X-rays, CT scans, or MRIs) far faster and sometimes more accurately than human experts. Google's AI system was able to interpret screening mammograms more accurately than expert radiologists (binaytara.org), reducing missed early breast cancers and false alarms. AI can also predict cancer risk: a recent 2023 study used an AI model on millions of health records to predict who is at high risk for pancreatic cancer – performing as well as expensive genetic tests, but using only routine medical data (cancerresearch.org, cancerresearch.org). 

"Artificial Nose" Breath Sensors: Certain cancers release unique volatile organic compounds that can be detected in a patient's breath. By using nanoscale sensors (an "artificial nose"), scientists can analyze a breath sample for telltale chemical signatures of tumors. In early prototypes, a patient simply breathes into a device, and can tell if they have cancer (binghamton.edu). This technology is still experimental, but the vision is compelling: one day you might blow into a tube and get an early warning of cancer, prompting further tests or treatment if needed. These could even be done even at home via a smartphone-linked device (binghamton.edu). Early studies have used breath sensors to detect lung cancer and even signs of other cancers with promising results (binghamton.edu, binghamton.edu).
 

Treatment

Equally revolutionary are new treatments designed to target and kill cancer cells earlier and more selectively than traditional chemo. 

What do we do currently? 

Surgery: If a tumor is localized, surgeons physically remove the cancer from the body. Surgery is usually used for cancers detected early essentially, to cut out the cancer before it spreads, but it's less helpful once cancer has spread (cancer.gov.) 

Radiation Therapy: This treatment uses high-energy radiation (like X-rays or proton beams) to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors (cancer.gov.) Radiation is often used after surgery to wipe out any leftover cancer cells in the area, or as a main treatment for tumors that can't be surgically removed. 

Chemotherapy: Chemotherapy uses special drugs that travel through the bloodstream to kill rapidly dividing cells (one of the major signs of a cancer). Chemo is also famous for killing fast-growing normal cells too (like hair follicles or bone marrow cells) which can lead to hair loss and anemia (cancer.gov.) 

What is the current cutting edge?

Immunotherapy: Immunotherapy is basically teaching your body's immune system to recognize and fight cancer cells – which cancers are often able to evade. A common approach is using immune checkpoint inhibitors (which are drugs like pembrolizumab/Keytruda) which take the brakes off immune cells, allowing them to hunt cancer. The beauty of immunotherapy is its precision: it can act like a "guided missile," zeroing in on cancer cells while sparing most healthy cells (binaytara.org). Immunotherapies have made long-term remissions in melanoma and lung cancer (once considered incurable). Clinical trials show that giving immunotherapy around the time of surgery can prevent recurrences. In one trial for high-risk head & neck cancer, adding Keytruda immunotherapy to surgery and radiation cut the risk of the cancer coming back by 34% (binaytara.org). By leveraging the immune system, we not only destroy existing cancer cells, but also create immune "memory" that guards against the cancer's return.
 

Targeted Therapies and Precision Medicine: In the past, we have used Chemo for many types of cancer and kept treatment more generalized but, not all cancers are alike and we can use that to fight them. Targeted therapy is a new approach that involves drugs that home in on specific abnormalities in cancer cells, blocking the signals that make them multiply. About 20% of breast tumors have extra human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) protein, and drugs like trastuzumab (Herceptin) specifically target HER2 and bind to the HER2 on cancer cells, dramatically improving survival in that subtype. Precision medicine means using each patient's tumor genetic profile to pick the right drug for the right target (binaytara.orgcancer.gov). For instance, if a lung cancer has an EGFR mutation, there are pills that precisely hit that mutant EGFR and cause the tumor to shrink. These therapies tend to be less toxic than chemo. The result is a kind of smart bomb: the drug mostly activates inside cancer cells, limiting damage elsewhere. Dozens of new targets (proteins or gene mutations unique to cancer) are now druggable. 

Cell Therapies (CAR-T and Beyond): The future of cancer treatment is in teaching the body's own immune cells to attack cancer cells. CAR-T cell therapy involves taking a patient's own T-cells (a type of immune cell), genetically modifying them to contain a "chimeric antigen receptor" (CAR) that recognizes a specific cancer protein, and destroys it like a cancer assassin. CAR-T therapies have had stunning success against certain blood cancers (like leukemias and lymphomas), achieving long-term remissions even in patients who had exhausted all other treatments and can cure some forms of advanced childhood leukemia, something unimaginable with chemo alone (binaytara.org). Another approach is TCR-engineered cells – these modify T-cells to recognize cancer by their native T-cell receptors (which can target internal cancer antigens). Just this year, the first TCR-based therapy (called tecelleucel-T) was approved and used to treat a patient (binaytara.org), marking a milestone for engineered T-cell therapies beyond CAR-T. Additionally, Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocyte (TIL) therapy is under study for cancers like melanoma: doctors take out immune cells that naturally fight tumors, amplify the best cancer-killing ones, and then put them back to intensify the attack on cancer. These therapies mean a future of radically destroying cancer cells by biological means, potentially with one-time treatments that keep working inside the body.

With earlier detection and smarter destruction of cancer cells, we are moving ever closer to tipping the odds in humanity's favor.

If you want to learn more, here are some great sources I used for this page:

American Cancer Society. "Multi-Cancer Early Detection Tests." Cancer.org, American Cancer Society,
https://www.cancer.org/cancer/screening/multi-cancer-early-detection-tests.html.

Binaytara Foundation. "Top Oncology Innovations That Shaped the First Half of 2025." Binaytara Foundation,
https://binaytara.org/cancernews/article/top-oncology-innovations-that-shaped-the-first-half-of-2025.

Cancer Research Institute. "AI and Cancer: How Artificial Intelligence Is Transforming Research and Treatment." Cancer Research Institute,
https://www.cancerresearch.org/blog/ai-cancer.

Cancer Research Institute. "Early Detection Saves Lives: The Essential Cancer Screenings You Can't Afford to Skip." Cancer Research Institute,
https://www.cancerresearch.org/blog/early-detection-saves-lives-the-essential-cancer-screenings-you-cant-afford-to-skip.

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center. "Are We Ready for Multi-Cancer Detection Tests?" Fred Hutch News,
https://www.fredhutch.org/en/news/center-news/2025/09/are-we-ready-for-multi-cancer-detection-tests.html.

Grail. "New Study Confirms Cancer Found in Early Stages More Likely to Be Cured." Grail,
https://grail.com/stories/new-study-confirms-cancer-found-in-early-stages-more-likely-to-be-cured/.

National Cancer Institute. "Types of Cancer Treatment." National Cancer Institute,
https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/treatment/types.

Binghamton University. "Breath Test Research for Early Cancer Detection." Binghamton University News,
https://www.binghamton.edu/news/story/5827/cancerdetection.