Cancer: Roads of hope
Russian and French scientists do not know when doctors will be able to successfully fight cancerVladimir Sychev, STRF
The round table "Cancer: Roads of Hope" was held on April 8 at the RIA Novosti press center.
This event begins a series of round tables that will be held in Moscow as part of the year "Russia-France 2010". The round tables were organized by the Department of Science, Technology and Space of the Embassy of France with the support of the Dmitry Zimin Dynasty Foundation. The purpose of open discussions is to popularize science and promote intercultural dialogue.
According to the organizers, each round table will be devoted to some topic of concern to society. Cancer is a topic that, for obvious reasons, people's attention will be drawn to for a long time.
Why was the round table named that way? The fact is that one of the participants of the table, a leading French oncologist-clinician David Hayat, is known not only as an outstanding professional oncologist, but also a writer who has written several works of fiction on the topic of medicine. Among them is the book "Roads of Hope", dedicated to the fate of a woman suffering from cancer.
Cancer harvests 6 million lives every year — more than AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined. Despite the improvement of methods of prevention, detection and treatment of cancer, it has not yet been possible to completely defeat the disease. What are the causes of cancer, how can it be treated most effectively, how to change the attitude to the disease — these questions were answered by the best specialists of France and Russia (both clinicians and academic scientists).
The round table was attended by Mikhail Davydov, President of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Director of the N. N. Blokhin Russian Cancer Research Center of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Academician Georgy Georgiev, Chief Researcher of the Institute of Gene Biology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Tom Tyurts, Director of the Institute of Oncology. Gustave Roussy and David Hayat — Head of the Oncology Department at the Pitier-Salpetriere Hospital, Professor at the University. Pierre and Marie Curie.
Starting the round table, Mikhail Davydov noted that both oncologists-clinicians and representatives of fundamental medicine really open new roads of hope on the way to cancer cure. An example of this is the steady decline in cancer mortality in the world — by about 3.5 percent annually. But hope appears when the right roads are chosen — those areas of research that are necessary to understand the nature of cancerous tumors. In addition, as David Hayat added, cancer treatment has become a political matter that requires the attention of states to this problem. No laboratory in the world can beat cancer alone. Cancer mortality is reduced due to early diagnosis and the availability of modern treatments — but this is determined by the level of healthcare in each particular country.
As for the nature of cancer, then, according to Georgy Georgiev, the question of the causes of malignant tumors is clear. It's all about genes, it's not for nothing that cancer is often called a "gene disease". The fact is that mutations in genes lead to changes in the set and functions of the proteins they encode. Accordingly, the properties of cells also change. In cancer cells that are out of control of the body, hundreds of genes work abnormally. The problem is also that any tumor has its own unique genetic "face", so it is difficult to say how certain cancer cells will respond to the use of drugs.
"Oncologists need to take into account the ethnic and endemic features of diseases of this or that form of cancer," Mikhail Davydov added. For example, in the republics of Central Asia, esophageal cancer is very common — because of the custom of drinking very hot tea. And, for example, the Japanese have a high incidence of stomach cancer due to frequent consumption of salted fish.
The main tools in the arsenal of oncologists are still represented by a triad - a scalpel, radiation exposure and chemotherapy. Nevertheless, over the past decade and a half, oncological surgery has changed unrecognizably. Now surgeons perform less traumatic, organ-preserving operations, and patients do not remain disabled, but can lead a full life.
Then representatives of fundamental science took the floor again. "The most gentle methods of treatment are molecular biological,— said Georgy Georgiev. — All over the world, funds based on biological molecules are being sought and are already being created. Russian specialists are at the forefront of this research." Among them, according to Georgiev, are scientists from the V. A. Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Gene Biology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the M. M. Shemyakin and Yu. A. Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences. "The strategy of finding new anti—cancer drugs has changed now," Toma Turc said. — If earlier the search for drugs was carried out at random, which took a lot of time and effort, now a specific target in a cancer cell is being selected, to which a suitable drug compound is being sought, including using bioinformatics methods, targeting specific types of tumors. But, of course, the price of such "smart" drugs is now high."
Konstantin Scriabin, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Director of the Bioengineering Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, who was present in the hall, gave a concrete example of interaction between Russian and French scientists. According to him, an international project is currently underway to study the genetic characteristics of kidney cancer. Of the total number of participants involved in the project, half are Russian and French scientists. Currently, according to Scriabin, the features of the genotypes of seven thousand patients diagnosed with kidney cancer have been studied.
And yet the main question that worries, without exaggeration, everyone is when? When, finally, will it be possible not to be afraid to hear the diagnosis of "cancer"? When will doctors be able to defeat cancerous tumors? According to the participants of the round table, it is impossible to name the exact date. Someday, however, cancer will be overcome. And Mikhail Davydov was more direct — certain types of cancer are already being successfully treated, the only question is the competent choice of methods of prevention, early diagnosis and therapy. At the preclinical stage, any incipient tumor can be guaranteed to be destroyed. Therefore, there is no need to be afraid of cancer. The fear of cancer gets to people "by inheritance" from people of the older generation who lived at a time when the word "cancer" practically meant a fatal outcome, explained M. Davydov. And therefore, the task of state and non-governmental organizations is not only to organize research in the field of oncology, but also to inform the population that cancer is gradually receding.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru09.04.2010