Cancer is the leading cause of death across the globe. For years now, researchers have led meticulous studies focused on how to stop this deadly disease in its tracks. How close are we to finding more effective treatments?

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The World Health Organization (WHO) note that, worldwide, nearly 1 in 6 deaths are down to cancer. In the United States alone.

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The NationalCancerInstitute(NCI) estimated 1,688,780 new cancer cases and 600,920 Cancer-related deaths in 2017.

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Currently, the most common types of cancer treatment are chemotherapy, radiotherapy, tumor surgery, and — in the case prostate cancer and breast cancer — hormonal therapy.

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Boosting the immune system's 'arsenal'

One type of therapy that has attracted a lot of attention recently is immunotherapy, which aims to reinforce our own bodies' existing arsenal against foreign bodies and harmful cells: our immune system's response to the spread of cancer tumors.

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But many types of cancer cell are so dangerous because they have ways of "duping" the immune system — either into ignoring them altogether or else into giving them a "helping hand."

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Therapeutic viruses and innovative 'vaccines'

A surprising weapon in the fight against cancer could be therapeutic viruses, as revealed by a team from the United Kingdom earlier this year. In their experiments, they managed to use a reovirus to attack brain cancer cells while leaving healthy cells alone.

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"This is the first time it has been shown that a therapeutic virus is able to pass through the brain-blood barrier," explained the study authors, which "opens up the possibility [that] this type of immunotherapy could be used to treat more people with aggressive brain cancers."

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The nanoparticle revolution

Speaking of specially developed tools for delivering drugs straight to the tumor and hunting down micro tumors with accuracy and efficiency, the past couple of years have seen a "boom" in nanotechnology and nanoparticle developments for cancer treatments.

Nanoparticles could be 'a game-changer' in cancer treatment.

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Nanoparticles are microscopic particles that have garnered so much attention in clinical research, among other fields, because they bring us the chance to develop precise, less invasive methods of tackling disease.

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Vitally, they can target cancer cells or cancer tumors without harming healthy cells in the surrounding environment.

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"This could potentially be a game-changer in the way we treat people who have cancer," said one of the researchers in charge of this project.

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These tiny vehicles can also be used to target cancer stem-like cells, which are undifferentiated cells that have been linked to the resilience of certain types of cancer in the face of traditional treatments such as chemotherapy.

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Thus, nanoparticles can be "loaded" with drugs and set to "hunt down" cancer stem cells to prevent the growth or recurrence of tumors. Scientists have experimented with drug-filled nanoparticles in the treatment of various types of cancer, including breast cancer and endometrial cancer.

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What does this all mean?

Cancer research is running at full speed, taking advantage of all the technological advances that science has achieved over recent years. But what does that mean in terms of coming up with a cure for cancer?

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Some researchers explain that these efforts should make us optimistic; while we may not be at the stage where we can claim that cancer can easily be eradicated, our furthered knowledge and ever more precise tools keep us ahead of the game and improve our odds in the fight against this disease.

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