The second leading cause of death globally is cancer. The World Cancer Day cannot be ignored as it reiterates its message through out the world that ‘I Am and I Will’.  This campaign has an empowering message to induce commitment on people at various level there by raising awareness concerning cancer prevention. 

The day cannot be complete without remembering Dr.V.Shanta, who was the  Chair Person of the Cancer Institute, Adyar.  Dedicated her life to the prevention, treatment of Cancer and her contribution to the field of oncology through her commitment to research during her medical career of 65 years.  Which is humungous at all measures.  She remained a workaholic and accessible to patients till her very end.  The fight is not over.  Let the mantle of her legacy and responsibility fall on each one of us to carry forward what we could do best in our given capacity.

Here is a quick snippet of promising development in treatment and prevention of cancer

Immunotherapy breakthroughs – the drugs recognise and destroys cancerous cells. A big break through against previously untreatable cancers

Another technique is checkpoint inhibitor therapy – where proteins contained within cancer cells bind with immune cells, sends ‘off’ signals to the rest of the immune system there by disabling the body’s natural defences.  This checkpoint inhibitor therapy blocks this binding and allows killer immune T cells to seek and destroy the pathogen.  This therapy is still under trial.

While ‘vaccine’ for tumours is still underway predicting and giving precise elective treatment has come a long way

Nanotechnology – is yet another area of growing interest. By using nano capsules, it directly addresses the tumour cells without damaging the normal cells.

It’s time to act therefore we could live without the fear of cancer. Let’s create awareness and understanding about Cancer while breaking the myths and misinformation. As more than one third of the cancers are preventable.