Researchers say to conquer cancer you need to stop it before it becomes cancer

[Gert van der Hoek]

[FONT=&quot]September 16, 2016[/FONT]

Summary: [FONT=&quot] A greater emphasis on immune-based prevention should be central to new efforts like the federal Cancer Moonshot program, headed by Vice President Joe Biden, cancer researchers from across the United States write.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]In a Perspective piece published this week inPNAS, cancer researchers from across the country, including faculty at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Moores Cancer Center, write that a greater emphasis on immune-based prevention should be central to new efforts like the federal Cancer Moonshot program, headed by Vice President Joe Biden.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]"Science has devoted tremendous amounts of energy and resources to the treatment of cancer, and in recent years, there has been significant progress. The cancer death rate has steadily declined for more than two decades," said Scott M. Lippman, MD, director of Moores Cancer Center and co-senior author of the PNAS paper. "But cancer still kills more than half a million Americans each year and afflicts many millions more. If we're ever to eradicate this scourge, we must work to prevent it from occurring altogether."

"The body's immune system is capable of intercepting pre-malignancies and preventing cancer. It does so countless times every day in all of us. That natural ability is what we want to leverage. Building upon our innate defenses against cancer is the foundation of new immunotherapies, which have shown great promise in a very short time."

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