Cancer cells are really good at surviving
Normal cells have "safety" mechanisms that prevent them from overgrowing or reproducing, and our immune system kills cells that could become a problem every day. Cancer cells have lost these mechanisms and can hide from the immune system, so they survive and continue to grow out of control. Cancer cell scans have developed a set of tricks to avoid being killed.
That's why we fund researchers like Dr. Vincenzo Giambra in Italy, who aims to understand how cancer cells become such experts in survival.
Is there a cure for cancer?
There will be no single cure for cancer because it is not a single disease and there is no single cause. However, new breakthroughs in our understanding of cancer will help us find new treatments for more than 200 different types of cancer. The discovery research you support is critical to translating today's best ideas into the best future treatments for all cancer types.
Our goal is to end the suffering caused by cancer and improve the quality of life for cancer patients. This will be achieved by discovering new ways to prevent, diagnose and treat all types of cancer.
What type of cancer can be cured?
Thanks to research, cancer survival rates in the UK have doubled since the 1970s. One in two people diagnosed with cancer can now expect to live 10 years or more after diagnosis.
However, more progress has been made in some cancers (why is it difficult to cure cancer) than others. Cancer survival rates have improved dramatically, with around 85% of people in the UK today surviving five years after diagnosis.
We've also made great progress in tackling cancer. Rates in Scotland have fallen by almost 15 per cent since 1993, and researchers hope screening and the HPV vaccine can eradicate the disease altogether.
Normal cells have "safety" mechanisms that prevent them from overgrowing or reproducing, and our immune system kills cells that could become a problem every day. Cancer cells have lost these mechanisms and can hide from the immune system, so they survive and continue to grow out of control. Cancer cell scans have developed a set of tricks to avoid being killed.
That's why we fund researchers like Dr. Vincenzo Giambra in Italy, who aims to understand how cancer cells become such experts in survival.
Is there a cure for cancer?
There will be no single cure for cancer because it is not a single disease and there is no single cause. However, new breakthroughs in our understanding of cancer will help us find new treatments for more than 200 different types of cancer. The discovery research you support is critical to translating today's best ideas into the best future treatments for all cancer types.
Our goal is to end the suffering caused by cancer and improve the quality of life for cancer patients. This will be achieved by discovering new ways to prevent, diagnose and treat all types of cancer.
What type of cancer can be cured?
Thanks to research, cancer survival rates in the UK have doubled since the 1970s. One in two people diagnosed with cancer can now expect to live 10 years or more after diagnosis.
However, more progress has been made in some cancers (why is it difficult to cure cancer) than others. Cancer survival rates have improved dramatically, with around 85% of people in the UK today surviving five years after diagnosis.
We've also made great progress in tackling cancer. Rates in Scotland have fallen by almost 15 per cent since 1993, and researchers hope screening and the HPV vaccine can eradicate the disease altogether.