Does anyone believe they will find one? they’ve just sent me something that says they are researching into getting a vaccine to prevent most breast cancer and it also mentions that they are looking into diet and lifestyle and ways of preventing the development of secondary breast cancer. It all sounds great but I am such a cynic. the research is headed by someone at University of London UCL I think
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO sorry but i don’t think they will.
However the treatment has come on so much in the last15 plus years as you know.
I was only thinking of my friend who was DX at 33 and died at 36 how she was treated (or not treated) would just not be acceptable today, it was 17yrs ago.
I went to a talk with one of my daughters at Liverpool Uni as she was thinking of doing a science based degree about 3yrs ago. the speaker was a leading researcher into cancer.
Fascinating talk, very complicated but i came away thinking blimey i hope i never get cancer they dont really know a lot about it do they? especially secondary cancers. he was actually quite positive about primary cancers.
I am going to be more cynical now Mole. Did they ask you fro money?
Rx
Ive also recently read somewhere that there will be a vacine for breast cancer in 10 yrs, who knows but mabe they will find one one day.There also seems to be a lot of talk about vitamin D (or lack off it) playing a part in breast cancer a trial was recently published in america. I just dont know, there are so many theories about, its confusing, though i do believe enviorment and diet proberly pay a part .It seem strange to me that the % of breast cancers are much more prevelent in the west than they are in the eastern world. Funily enough after reading about vitamin D the other evening and dismising it as just another theorie i was surprised to see it being talked about on This Mornung by Dr Chris Steel .Umm might ask my consultant next time what he thinks. I think its quite easy to get paronoid over stuff (i know i am)but im defenately more awear of what im eating and using now ive even started reading the lables on products.I was quite surprised to read on the lable of my mums (well know brand) body moisturiser that it contained aliminium. Im sure the perservatives and chemicals in everything we buy today cant be doing us much good.
Best Wishes
Lindiloo x
Hi Mole,
I am less enthusiastic about vaccines than I once was. Part of the difficulty is that so many of the things that are wrong with a cancer cell might be present in a normal cell but at a lower level. Also, some of what goes wrong with cancer cells seems to be that genes necessary for fetal development get turned back on, so I would imagine that developing a breast cancer vaccine that could be used in pre-menopausal women might be a big challenge. Interestingly, I read that the Chinese were developing an anti-her2 vaccine, not as an anti-breast cancer drug but as a form of birth control.
The east is fast catching up with the west in breast cancer. It could be the pollution, although there are other relevant factors. One factor that people often forget is that sedentary lifestyles are associated with breast cancer. 100 years ago most women lived lives of sheer drudgery (think of how much more physical work even a twin tub requires than a modern washing machine). There was that Cancer Research UK study everyone loves to hate that associated housework with a lower breast cancer risk, but charity claims that the main finding was probably that physical activity made the difference and that housework just happened to be the only physical activity most women did. In industrialised countries people also spend less time outdoors (relevant since the sun is the main source of vitamin D).
Personally I mainly just give to Cancer Research UK because I think that they have the expertise to give my money to whoever has come up with the best research project, whether it is at UCL or Nottingham or any place else. Now, there may be times when a maverick researcher can’t get his idea funded. The inventor of herceptin, for example, was not able to get money from a traditional channel because so many similar ideas had failed. Herceptin only got off the ground only because the oncologist had treated a hollywood producer for another type of cancer and his grateful wife raised money for the oncologist in return. However, in principle it is best to have just a few cancer research charities to ensure that the overheads stay low. That is why the Imperial Cancer Fund and the other charity merged into CRUK in the first place. So, I would only give money to a particular research group if there was a very clear reason to do so.