• Question: What type of cancer do you find the most interesting?

    Asked by Sharmin_the BEST to Hayley, Jimi on 18 Mar 2016.
    • Photo: Hayley Moulding

      Hayley Moulding answered on 18 Mar 2016:


      I am really interested in brain tumours as well as genetic cancers. I like reading about retinoblastoma which is a cancer which children are born with. It is horrible, but I do find it very interesting.

    • Photo: Jimi Wills

      Jimi Wills answered on 18 Mar 2016:


      Breast cancer is really interesting, because there are different types that respond differently to hormones…

      oestrogen dependent cancers can be treated with drugs that block the action of oestrogen in the cells… the oestrogen normally helps them grow, but with thdrug it doesn’t work, so the stop growing.

      but some cancers can become independent of oestrogen and the drugs don’t work on them… other cancers become reisitant to the drug, but still need the oestrogen (how this works is not understood)

      learning how these cancers change from one type to another, and being able to predict when this is going to happen, can really help us choose the right drug for women (and men!) with breast cancer

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