Thiruvananthapuram: India will face a tsunami of chronic diseases like cancer due to globalisation, growing economy, aging population and changing lifestyles, warned a leading oncologist, calling for technology-driven medical techniques to avert health disasters for the nation. It has become imperative to adopt an effective method. Cancer vaccines for prevention and treatment, expansion of artificial intelligence and data digital technology, and liquid biopsy to diagnose cancer are among the six trends that will reshape cancer care in this century, according to the Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology. Speaker Dr. Gem Abraham says. , Cleveland Clinic, Ohio, USA. In an article for the Manorama Year Book 2023, Abraham points out that the other three trends include the use of genomic profiling, the development of gene editing techniques, and next-generation immunotherapies and CAR T cell therapies.
“Digital technology, information technology and telehealth will reduce the gap between patients and specialists. This will potentially increase the availability of specialist care in remote parts of our country, including rural settings where the majority of our population stays.” India’s biggest challenge will be how to make it affordable and accessible to millions of its people as these technologies revolutionize cancer care, says Dr. Abraham. Oncologists warn, “Due to globalization, growing economy, aging population and changing lifestyles, India will face a tsunami of chronic diseases like cancer.”
Due to demographic changes, the worldwide cancer burden is expected to be 28.4 million in 2040, a 47 percent increase from 2020, according to GloboCan’s estimates. This may be exacerbated by the increase in risk factors associated with globalization and a growing economy. An estimated 19.3 million new cancer cases and approximately 10.0 million cancer deaths were reported worldwide in 2020. Female breast cancer has surpassed lung cancer as the most commonly diagnosed cancer, while lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer deaths with an estimated 1.8 million. deaths (18 percent), followed by colorectal (9.4 percent), liver (8.3 percent), stomach (7.7 percent) and female breast (6.9 percent) cancers, the report shows.
Dr. Abraham believes that cancer vaccines are an exciting research area, with the potential to immunize people against different types of cancer. Researchers have developed surprisingly successful mRNA Covid-19 vaccines. The fact is that mRNA-based cancer treatment vaccines have been tested in small trials for more than a decade, with some promising preliminary results. “Currently at the Cleveland Clinic, our team is conducting a clinical trial testing a cancer vaccine in high-risk breast cancer,” he says. Highlighting the role of state-of-the-art technologies, he says that computers using Artificial Intelligence (AI) can recognize the variation in normal to abnormal patterns in biopsies with a degree of precision that is far more accurate than the human eye. These technologies will demand radiologists and pathologists to be more efficient and accurate. Breast and colon cancer can be detected at an early stage by genetic profiling or testing at an early age to detect abnormal genes.
“In a futuristic society, genomic testing will be widely used, such as monitoring blood pressure or cholesterol, to identify high-risk and find targeted treatments to specifically kill cancer cells. Populations or individuals at high risk Testing in the U.S. would allow doctors to intervene before cancer occurs,” he says. Given that scans, mammograms, colonoscopies, or Pap smears are currently used to diagnose cancer, doctors say by the time a tumor is detected, it may be too late. “Therefore, treatment needs to be very aggressive. Emerging liquid biopsy technologies will help detect cancer from a single drop of blood, before it can be detected by a scan or manifests as a lump or ulcer.” Ho.”
Genome or gene editing is a field of research that seeks to modify the genes of living organisms and use them to treat genetic or acquired diseases. Gene therapy holds promise for treating cancer, cystic fibrosis, heart disease, diabetes, hemophilia, sickle cell disease, and AIDS. Another trend in cancer treatment is immunotherapy which, in combination with chemotherapy, has in many cases resulted in the complete disappearance of tumors. It is now a standard treatment currently in many parts of the world. Scientists are also using CAR T cell therapy, in which T cells are isolated from a patient’s blood and modified in the lab to specifically attack cancer cells. Dr. Abraham also has a word of caution. “While we develop new technologies to prevent and treat cancer, we are unable to focus our attention on cancer prevention. The most common causes of cancer are still tobacco, alcohol, diet and infection. There should be one policy for alcohol control. national priority,” he says.