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Introduction
Cancer is one of the leading killer diseases in the world and there aren’t any 100 percent effective treatments for it, as a result it has troubled many scientists who have been working towards finding a cure for it. Cancer is caused by cells that grow out of control in the human body thereby forming body masses known as tumors. “Tumors can grow and interfere with the digestive, nervous, and circulatory systems whereby they can release hormones that alter the body function” (Goldmann 2001 1119; Agarwal 2000, 740).
There are several types of cancers that affect the different parts of the human body with some types of cancer being more deadly than others (Anand 2008, 2099) Since it affects many different types of body tissues, they are named after the tissue they affect, for example, if the cancer attacks the cervix or brain, it is known as cervix cancer and brain cancer respectively (Science Daily 2011, np: Berrington de González et al 2009, 165).
Research problem
Over the last decade, a lot of research has been conducted and advances made in a pursuit to find a cure for the illness nevertheless, they haven’t been 100 per cent effective in eradicating the disease completely. For example, even after chemotherapy or surgery, statistics have shown that there are certain patients whose cancer cells have again reemerged thus indicating that there isn’t a 100 percent effective solution to the issue (Calin 2006, 65: Brenner 2009, 460; Wanjek 2006, 56). In addition, cancer is known to spread rapidly in the human body, thus if the cancer is detected in the stomach, after treatment, one may discover that it has spread to a different type of organ hence making treatment of the disease rather hard. Thus this paper will seek to find out and analyze any recent developments or advances in the field of cancer. More so, it will analyze recent developments that have the capability or offer hope of eradicating cancerous cell from the human body.
Literature Review
As indicated above cancer is a very big problem affecting millions of people each year where it is estimated that 1.3 Million American are diagnosed with cancer each year while 53.1 percent of them will die annually ( Jemal 2011, 71: Kinzler and Vogelstein 2002; Tolar and Neglia 2003, 431). Nobody has really understood cancer, how it’s transmitted or its causes making the problem even more complicated. As it is a deadly disease and a leading cause of death, it is very important that an effective solution be found to end this deadly disease (Dolmans 2003, 389: Kushi and Byers et al 2006, 150).
Science News (2011), author of this article shows that scientists have not given up finding a lasting solution and this is evident by the recent discovery of a soil dwelling bacteria that is said to effectively eradicate the cancer cells in the human body. This is a big breakthrough for both the scientists and human race. The bacterium is known as clostridium sporogenes and is a bacterial strain that is normally found in the soil. Although further tests are being conducted on the strain and its effectiveness on cancer, research shows that the bacteria works by accurately attacking oxygen lacking tumors that are formed as a result of the cancer cells (Merlo 2006, 562: Pagano 2004,254). Therefore, once a patient is diagnosed with cancer, he is immediately put on therapy whereby through a direct injection, the spores of clostridium sporogenes are injected into the individual and later the bacteria develops into solid tumors such as such as breast, brain and prostate tumors that generate enzymes. Science News (2011) notes “an anti-cancer drug is injected separately into the patient in an inactive ‘pro-drug’ form when it reaches the site of the tumor, the bacterial enzyme activates the drug, allowing it to destroy only the cells in its vicinity, the tumor cells.”
Blower (2008 9) says, though it was a complicated process and the researchers had faced a lot of hurdles, they overcame them and thus the process was given a green light to conduct clinical trials. Agarwal (2000, 739) adds that for this to take place, they came up with a sophisticated and highly developed type of the enzyme that was introduced into the gene code of the bacteria (Bataineh 2002, 19: Biesalski 1998, 178). By doing so, they ensured that the enzymes could now be produced in large quantities while inside the tumors thus making the process easier, faster and effective. “In addition the improved version has ensured that the process is more efficient in converting the pro-drug into its active form” (Richardson 2000, 209: Fairfi eld 2002, 2116).
Takimoto (2008, 968) observes that in cancer treatment, the major hurdle for researchers around the world is targeting the cancerous cells without harming or affecting the healthy cells.
Methods
The leading researcher in this issue, Professor Minton from the School of Molecular Medical Sciences, Centre for Biomolecular Sciences, explains how this is done. Cassileth (2004, 89) says the proposed treatment is based on the fact that many of the solid tumors have low oxygen requirements – an environment that the Clostridium sporogene bacterium thrives well in. Clostridium is an ancient group of bacterium which grew on the planet before it had any oxygen-adequate environment and so it can thrive in low oxygen environments. (Kleinman 2001, 986: Hsieh 2002, 2658).
Esquela-Kerscher (2009, 260) observes that clostridia spores of the bacteria would be injected into a cancer patient’s blood stream where they would target, develop and mutate in low oxygen tissues, that is, the centre of solid tumors (Hayden 2009, 689: Irigaray, 2007,69). A cancer treatment drug would then be injected separately in an inert form and when it got to the tumor, the bacterium made it active (Hegmans 2004, 115). The treatment would then target only the cancerous cells, leaving the healthy tissues untouched (Zheng and Lee 2009, 440; Steck et al 2007, 383; Park and Bae 2003, 371).
Theoretically, this type of cancer drug delivery has great potential since it selectively wipes out tissues, which are depressed of oxygen (Hsieh 2002, 308; Seitz 1998, 91). However, researchers have to be certain that the bacterium only seeks out cancer tissues and not other tissues, such as, those that have a low blood supply and consequently low oxygen levels. Nomura (2000, 889) notes “to increase the bacterial enzyme efficiency, the researchers introduced a gene into C sporogenes’ DNA to make Clostridia generate more quantities of the enzyme in cancerous tumors in order to make the drugs active”. This is an entirely natural occurrence that needs no fundamental alterations; it is very precise and can be exploited to kill tumor cells leaving the healthy tissue unharmed (Vickers 2004, 119: Kadlubar 2005, 1367; World Health Organization 2007; Proctor 2004, 387).
Richardson (2000, 2509) notes, according to Professor Minton, the soil bacteria combination have the ability to eradicate every kind of tumor cells. So this cancer therapy may eventually lead to a simpler, safer and efficient procedure than a surgical process for curing various solid tumors especially for patients who are at advanced risk of death and have complicated tumor locations or patients with hard to reach tumors and who are not potentials for surgical resection. “It is anticipated that the strain in development will be used in clinical trials in 2013 directed by Jan Theys and Philippe Lambin at the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands” (Gupta 2001, 1030: Kuper, Boffetta and Adami 2002, 54; Samaras et al 2010, 271).
Wanjek (2006, np) observes that this approach of bacterial anti-cancer therapy has been in development for over 50 years though its assurance hasn’t been documented in detail. Yu (2001,179) the researchers believe this way of cancer treatment will be quite practical for patients who are not able to undergo surgical procedure as they are more prone to complications or their swelling is in a difficult place to locate. A successful outcome could lead to adoption of this mode of treatment as a cutting edge therapy for curing solid tumors Berrington de González (2009, 2071; Murgia et al 2006, 479). If the type of treatment is successfully put together with more traditional ways, it could increase chances of getting the treatment for cancer tumors (Brenner 2007, 2227: Larsson and Wolk, 2007, 895; Danaei et al 2005, 1798). However, it is a difficult hurdle to cross, particularly since every cancerous tumor is different nevertheless, this particular approach has not yet been tried on patients and it will take sometime before researchers evaluate its real benefits (Nelson 2004, 549: Brenner 2007, 56; Roukos 2009, 391; Kuper et al 2002, 458). There are lots of challenges to address before this type of therapy can be administered on cancer patients thus it could take some time before we can fully realize the true potential of this treatment (Matsumoto 2005, 3709: Buell 2005, 601; Sasco and Secretan 2004, 71).
Conclusion
It is no doubt that the research by Researchers at the University of Nottingham and the University of Maastricht will offer a big relief towards eradicating the disease from the human body once and for all. Although clinical trials are yet to take place in 2013, there are signs that the bacteria will be successful and 100 percent effective(Croce, 2008,451: Dingli , 2006,24). In addition, it will offer cheaper, faster and non intrusive therapies to a patient as opposed to other forms of treatment such as surgery and chemotherapy which are known to place a heavy burden on a patient.
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