1. Cancer

2. A project by:
• Bocereg Alexandra
• Stoian Bianca
• Fronea Alexandru
• Carson Andrei
• Lică Andrei

3. What is cancer?
Cancer , known medically as malignant neoplasia, is a
broad group of diseases involving unregulated cell
growth.
In cancer, cells divide and grow
uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, which
may invade nearby parts of the body.

4. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of
the body through the lymphatic
system or bloodstream. Not all tumors are
cancerous; benign tumors do not invade neighboring
tissues and do not spread throughout the body.
There are over 200 different known cancers that
affect humans.

6. Causes
The causes of cancer are diverse, complex, and only
partially understood. Many things are known to
increase the risk of
cancer, including tobacco use, dietary factors, certain
infections, exposure to radiation, lack of physical
activity, obesity, and environmental pollutants.

7. How can cancer be treated?
Cancer is usually treated
with chemotherapy, radiation therapy and surgery.
The chances of surviving the disease vary greatly by
the type and location of the cancer and the extent of
disease at the start of treatment.

8. New cancer cures:
Tiny motors controlled inside human cells
For the first time, scientists have placed tiny motors
inside living human cells and steered them magnetically.
The advance represents another step towards
molecular machines that can be used, for example, to
release drugs into specific locations within the body.
There is interest in the approach because it could
enhance the benefits of drugs while minimising side
effects.

9. The mechanism of nanomotors:
Materials scientist Prof Tom Mallouk, from Penn
State University, and colleagues have published their
research and stated:
"As these nanomotors move around and bump into
structures inside the cells, the live cells show internal
mechanical responses that no one has seen before," said
Prof Mallouk.
"This research is a vivid demonstration that it may be
possible to use synthetic nanomotors to study cell
biology in new ways."

11. The use of nanomotors:
Up until now, nanomotors have been studied
only "in vitro" - in laboratory apparatus - but not in
living human cells.
• "We might be able to use nanomotors to treat cancer
and other diseases by mechanically manipulating
cells from the inside," said Prof Mallouk.
• In addition, he said: "Nanomotors could perform
intracellular surgery and deliver drugs non-invasively
to living tissues."

12. "If you want these motors to seek out and destroy cancer
cells, for example, it's better to have them move
independently. You don't want a whole mass of them going in
one direction."
Describing the potential uses of nanomotor
technology, the Penn State professor invoked a 1966 science
fiction film in which a submarine and its human crew are
miniaturised and injected into the blood-stream of a dying
man in order to save him.
"One dream application of ours is Fantastic Voyage-style
medicine, where nanomotors would cruise around inside the
body, communicating with each other and performing various
kinds of diagnoses and therapy.

13. Fantastic Voyage (1966)

15. Anti-CD47 antibodies treatment
CD47 is a kind of protein that is found on the surface
of many cells in the body. It tells circulating immune cells
called macrophages not to eat these cells. The body uses
the CD47 protein to protect cells that should be
protected and to help dispose of cells that are aged or
diseased. For instance, red blood cells start off with a lot
of CD47 on their cell surface when young but slowly lose
CD47 as they age. At some point, the amount of CD47 on
the surface of an aging red blood cells is not enough to
stave off the macrophages, and those older cells are
devoured and destroyed, making way for new red blood
cells. In this way, the supply of fresh blood cells is
constantly replenished.

17. Unfortunately, some cells that should be destroyed
are not. Researchers at Stanford have discovered that
nearly every kind of cancer cell has a large amount of
CD47 on the cell surface. This protein signal protects the
cancer against attack by the body's immune system.
Stanford investigators have discovered if that they block
the CD47 "don't-eat-me" signal through the use of anti-
CD47 antibodies, macrophages will consume and destroy
cancer cells. Deadly human cancers have been
diminished or eliminated in animal models through the
use of anti-CD47 antibody.

19. Clinical Trials in humans
After the successful outcomes of the experiments
testing the use of anti-CD47 antibodies against human cancers
transplanted into mice, plans were immediately begun to start
clinical trials in humans. Unfortunately, the process of
preparing for human clinical trials is long. The initial
experiments were done in animals and the animal versions of
anti-CD47 antibody cannot be used in humans. So researchers
first have to create a "humanized" antibody to CD47, then the
production of antibody must be scaled up in a sterile facility of
the kind that is used to create other pharmaceutical products.
Finally, clinical trials must be designed so that the data
they generate will produce a valid scientific result, and the
trials must be approved by regulatory officials.
All of this takes time.

20. Alternative treatments discoveries:
Peaches Inhibit Breast Cancer in
Mice
Lab tests at Texas A&M Agrilife
Research have shown that treatments
with peach extract inhibit breast
cancer metastasis in mice.
This is very important because
it can be translated into something
that is also beneficial for
people, said a food scientist for
AgriLife Research.
This work builds upon previous
work at AgriLife Research released a
few years ago, which showed that
peach and plum polyphenols
selectively killed aggressive breast
cancer cells and not the normal
ones, Cisneros-Zavallos says.
In the western hemisphere, breast
cancer is the most common malignant
disease for women.
Most of the complications and high
mortality associated with breast cancer
are due to metastasis

21. Bibliography
• en.wikipedia.org
• http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-
26136979