# Is It Likely That a Cancer Cure Will Be a "Magic Bullet"?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-likely-that-a-cancer-cure-will-be-a-magic-bullet/444824>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [April 11, 2008, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-likely-that-a-cancer-cure-will-be-a-magic-bullet/444824 "2008-04-11T00:03:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-likely-that-a-cancer-cure-will-be-a-magic-bullet/444824/1 "2008-04-11T00:03:59Z")

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Meaning: is there some characteristic of all cancers, that makes it likely that a single treament would cure it?  
As I understand it, cancerous cells divide much faster than normal cells. Suppose we find a substance that can be taken up by cancerous cells, and kills them. Would this work for all cancers?

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**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-likely-that-a-cancer-cure-will-be-a-magic-bullet/444824/2 "2008-04-11T00:07:54Z")

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[QUOTE=ralph124c]  
Meaning: is there some characteristic of all cancers, that makes it likely that a single treament would cure it?  
As I understand it, cancerous cells divide much faster than normal cells. Suppose we find a substance that can be taken up by cancerous cells, and kills them. Would this work for all cancers?  
[/QUOTE]

Might depend on your definition of ‘work’ - as I understand it, chemotherapy is based on that principle, and it’s generally capable of killing any cancer. The problem is that it tends to kill non-cancerous cells as well. ☹ (That may be a tremendous simplification I know.)

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**Author:** ![Qwertyasdfg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/ecc23a/32.png) [@Qwertyasdfg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qwertyasdfg)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-likely-that-a-cancer-cure-will-be-a-magic-bullet/444824/3 "2008-04-11T03:45:15Z")

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I can almost foresee a future in which nanotechnology might be able to selectively kill cancer cells of many or perhaps all forms. Maybe.

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**Author:** ![jimmmy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@jimmmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimmmy)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-likely-that-a-cancer-cure-will-be-a-magic-bullet/444824/4 "2008-04-11T14:06:23Z")

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_Suppose we find a substance that can be taken up by cancerous cells, and kills them_

I am not sure about a"substance" but the same _process_ might work as a magic bullet. It is one I think will come in a decade that the younger members of this board might very well live to see toward the ends of their lives.

I’m referring to Gene Therapy where we may see this:  
We might be able to develop a process to turn off of the dividing cancer cells. I would imagine theoretically, that it might be the same, or for all intents and purposes the same, process done for all cancers. Obviously, each specific kind of cancer would require different genes be shut off using the same process.