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20th Feb 2005
Cancer and Complementary Therapies
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In this week's show, Professor Fran Balkwill from the Cancer Institute at St. Bartholomew's and The Royal London, and Professor Andrew Wyllie, Head of the Department of Pathology at Cambridge University, discuss cancer, how cancer spreads and how the body responds, Dr Toby Murcott, a science writer and broadcaster, talks about complementary medicines and how they might be tested, and Dr Chris Smith flies through a host of discoveries from the other side of the pond, where he reports live from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Washington.
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Questions
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Why does cancer tend to be more common in older people?
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It's a very good question and a very astute observation. It really has to do with the fact that many different genes need to be altered by their contact with whatever it is in the environment that causes cancer in the first place. It's seldom that any single gene defect is involved in cancer. People think that it takes at least six to eight genes, but it is probably many more. They must all be altered together in the same cell before you get the change in behaviour that we would call cancer. The chance of getting all these changes at the same time in one cell is actually very low, but it increases with age.
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My dad died from cancer. What are the chances that I or my brothers will get cancer? Are there genes for cancer?
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There are some families that have a very strong history of cancer, but these are mercifully very rare. The majority of cancers are sporadic. There are probably some influences that can give you a slight increase of cancer risk, but inherited cancers themselves are actually very rare.
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My grandfather, father, aunt, all my siblings and I have had cancer. Are we an example of cancer being hereditary? The cancers weren't the same. Two were in the breast, one had it in the kidneys, one in the bladder and two in the colon.
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(Kat) If cancer is hereditary, it tends to be the same type of cancer or a group of similar cancers. (Andrew) Breast cancer in families is a known phenomenon. If the same cancer turns up in close relatives, there are some tests that can be done to find out who is most at risk. I think in your case, the cancers don't fall into any pattern that I can recognise as being inherited. The difficulty with sorting all this out is that people who share the same environment sometimes share exposure to the same carcinogens. (Fran) Cancer is such a common disease now that about 1 in 3 people will experience cancer at some time in their lifetime. Overall, the odds experienced by your family are not as extreme as they may seem.
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I just wanted to pick up on the point you mentioned about inflammatory disease. I have rheumatoid arthritis and have gone on to develop cancer of the breast. I wondered if I would have been considered more at risk?
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That's a very good question and I am sorry to hear about your arthritis and cancer. I don't think they are connected. The thing about cancers that are caused by inflammation is that they tend to occur in the sites where the inflammation occurs. For example, people that have inflammatory disease of the bowel tend to have an increased instance of bowel cancer. Your breast cancer is probably an independent event. There is no evidence that I know of that that shows people with rheumatoid arthritis having an increased risk of breast cancer.
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| Interviews
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Dr Chris Smith, in Washington
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Dr. Toby Murcott, science writer and broadcaster
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Prof. Fran Balkwill from the Cancer Institute at St. Barts & The London, and Prof. Andrew Wyllie, Head of Pathology at Cambridge University
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