Yeah cancer is a bitch because there’s so many types of it. But we are definitely on track to cure some of them. And there is a possibility we could cure all cancer. Take this all with a grain of salt, I’m a little educated in the field but not on everything. This is just some future “cures” discussed in class.

The main new weapon we discovered is CRISPR. Imagine in the future your doctor could store a piece of your healthy tissue. If you develop cancer, you could compare the genetic sequences of healthy tissue and cancerous tissue, identifying the mutation quickly. CRISPR is then designed specifically for your mutation, and can either repair or kill cancerous cells.

And this isn’t even far off tech. We cured someone of sickle cell anemia. A living person. Monogenic diseases (those caused by a mutation in one gene) are pretty much cured at this point. All the trials are coming back successful, and the first rollout to patients is expected soon (aka to rich people). The problem is polygenic diseases (those caused by several genetic mutations). Many cancers fall into this category.

So the problem has now become identifying the genetic mutations causing the disease. We have the tool to edit, but we’re mostly slashing around in the dark. We know how to read and identify what segments do, but it’s costly and time consuming.

So it all comes down to funding. The more funding and more manpower we put towards it, the quicker these cures will come. I know CRISPR sounds exaggerated, too good to be true. But we’ve done it. We’re able to alter our own code now. The implications of this are far reaching to say the least.