Allied Academies

Cancer Prevention It is estimated that more than half of the estimated 600,920 cancer deaths  that occurred in the United States in 2017 were related to preventable causes, including tobacco use, obesity, exposure to ultraviolet light, and vaccine-preventable infections with cancer -associated pathogens. Advancing the science of cancer prevention . We work with a wide range of partners in biomedical research to develop strategies and promising therapeutics to stop cancer  before it starts. Our eight peer-reviewed medical journals including  Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention  and  Cancer Prevention  Research feature leading-edge research in the field. Adopting healthy lifestyles that eliminate or reduce the risk of recognized causes of cancer , could decrease the number of people diagnosed with many types of the disease. Moreover, healthy approaches to living can reduce the risk of cancer recur...

Cancer research  transforms and saves lives. The goal of studying cancer is to develop safe and effective methods to prevent, detect, diagnose, treat, and, ultimately, cure the many diseases we call  cancer . The better we understand these diseases, the more progress we will make toward diminishing the tremendous human and economic tolls of  cancer .  Research has helped us accumulate extensive knowledge about the biological processes involved in  cancer  onset, growth, and spread in the body. Those discoveries have led to more effective and targeted treatments and prevention strategies. Breakthroughs in prevention, early detection, screening, diagnosis, and treatment are often the result of research and discoveries made by scientists in a wide array of disciplines over decades and even generations. Ultimately , cancer research  requires partnerships and collaborations involving researchers, clinicians, patients, and others to transl...

Cancer  isn't a single disease. The term cancer  encompasses more than 200 diseases all characterized by the uncontrolled proliferation of cells. Ignoring the body's signal to stop, malignant cells  multiply to form tumors  in organs and tissues or, in the case of blood cancers , crowd out normal cells in the bloodstream and bone marrow. In a healthy body, cells grow and divide in a controlled, orderly fashion to replace those that have grown old or have been damaged and die by design in a process called apoptosis. Cancer  occurs when these natural processes go awry. When the genetic material of a cell – the DNA – is damaged, mutations can arise, potentially disrupting normal growth and division. An accumulation of mutations can turn normal cells into precancerous cells,  which sometimes multiply and evolve into cancer cells . Cancer is a result of the accumulation of these cells. Cancer  is not an eve...

Clinical trials are a critical component of the effort to develop new ways to prevent, detect, diagnose, and treat cancer  and other diseases. "Some people think that clinical trials are the last resort," says Jack Whelan of Andover, Mass., who was diagnosed with a rare form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2007. "I am a survivor of a rare not-yet-curable cancer. Forward-looking science, what is available in clinical trials, was the best choice for me." For researchers and clinicians, trials are critical to determining the potential benefits and safety of investigational cancer therapies  or for understanding if an existing medication could be useful for other types of cancer . Clinical trials are the last step before treatments are made widely available. They come after the completion of basic lab research and testing. Clinical testing in patients is key to understanding how a particular therapy will perform and what kinds of side effects may occur. Clinical tr...