Can cancer be eradicated like smallpox?

Cervical cancer is one of the most common diseases affecting women's health, especially in low and middle-income countries, the probability of women infected with cervical cancer and death is very highAccording to the statistics of the World Health Organization (who), in 2018, there were nearly 570000 new cases of cervical cancer and more than 310000 deaths worldwide, 85% of which occurred in low-income countries< br / > although the enemy has achieved "fierce results" in the past, it is not without "weakness"Cervical cancer is the only cancer with clear etiology, controllable and preventableIn recent years, with the development of screening technology, prevention vaccine and treatment, cervical cancer is expected to be the first cancer eliminated in human historyOn December 10, the fifth anniversary of the launch of nine price cervical cancer vaccine gardasil-9, the content team of Wuxi apptec specially combed the human control and prevention of cervical cancer for youHope that after understanding, can let you less talk about cancer color change fear, more active defense firm< br / > breaking the unscientific prejudice < br / > historically, human exploration of cervical cancer has a long historyIn 1500 BC, ancient Egyptian medical books first described cervical cancer and its treatmentIn 400 BC, Hippocrates, the father of medicine in ancient Greece, considered cervical cancer as a refractory disease caused by blood disorders according to the symptoms of abnormal vaginal bleedingAt the same time, surgical treatment of cervical cancer with hysterectomy was first mentioned in ancient Indian medical booksUnfortunately, these early explorations did not bring effective help to patients, but increased the pain of treatment< br / >_ C41.jpg: einsamer Sch ü tzederivitive work: photohound [CC by-sa 3.0() < br / > it is people's misunderstanding and prejudice about cervical cancer that afflict patients more than physical painIn the age of underdeveloped science, because the cause of cervical cancer could not be found, people once blamed the punishment of promiscuity on heavenThis makes it a difficult saying for female patients to bear the humiliationUntil the 1840s, through the statistical analysis of cancer deaths, scientists found that cervical cancer was not only found in promiscuity, but also in married women and widows, but also in unmarried women and nunsScientists speculate that the occurrence of cervical cancer is closely related to sex (not just promiscuity) Since then, studies have pointed out that early marriage and early childbearing, multiple pregnancy and childbirth, unclean and chaotic sexual life are highly related to the occurrence of cervical cancer < br / > ▲ statistics on cervical cancer published by Mr rigoni stern in 1842 is considered to be the earliest application of epidemiology in cervical cancer research (photo source: reference [4]) < br / > inspiration from guinea pig research < br / > although epidemiological research has brought inspiration for scientists to confirm the cause of cervical cancer, But until the beginning of the 20th century, the death rate of cervical cancer remained high The main reason is that most of the patients were diagnosed with cervical cancer in the middle and late stage, and the conventional treatment of "troika" surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy can only bring a drop in the bucket So, how can we achieve early detection, early diagnosis and early treatment in the fight against cervical cancer? < br / > when gynecologists were at a loss, Mr Georgios papanikolaou, an assistant researcher in the lab, came up with a solution In his research on the influence of sex chromosomes on the sex of offspring, he developed a smear test method to observe the ovulation cycle of guinea pigs This method allowed him to observe a wide variety of cell types under the microscope Later, he applied the test to the human body, and the decision brought him a moment of high light in his career - there was a cervical cancer patient in the test sample, under the microscope, he clearly distinguished between normal cells and cancer cells < br / > ▲ the cells observed in the Pap smear under the microscope (photo source: [public domain]) < br / > George's discovery provides a more convenient operation mode for cervical cancer detection By analyzing the cell morphology dropped from the vagina and cervix, people can screen early cervical cancer patients, and the tool needed is just a microscope To commemorate George's discovery, people named the technique after the first three letters of his surname, which is the origin of the name Pap smear After that, the cervical cancer screening technology has been innovated continuously In 1996, TCT screening (cervical liquid based thin-layer cytology) approved by FDA has been able to detect 90% of cervical cancer and almost all precancerous lesions < br / > the emergence of Pap smear, which can detect the fatal virus from the undead cells, has realized the early screening of cervical cancer and saved the lives of millions of women, but these lucky women do not include Ms Henrietta lacks In January 1951, the American woman was diagnosed with cervical cancer and died shortly after treatment failed The strange thing is that after her death, doctors found that the cancer tissue samples collected from her didn't die after a limited number of replications and divisions like the normal cells, but after repeated replications and divisions, they became "immortal cells", which was later the world-famous HeLa cells The discovery excited the whole scientific community! According to the logic of story development, a steady stream of "immortal cells" provide scientists with sufficient samples to study diseases, from which the deadly virus can be found < br / > contrary to expectations, the confirmation of the cause of cervical cancer is not as smooth as expected At first, herpes simplex virus (HSV) was the primary suspect of scientists A study published in Science in 1968 showed that the probability of detection of HSV antibody in cervical cancer patients was significantly higher than that in the uninfected population Another study in the same period showed that among women with genital herpes due to herpes virus infection, the incidence of cervical cancer was significantly higher (7% vs 0.6%) Therefore, scientists suspect that cervical cancer follows the development path of "infection with HSV → genital herpes → cervical cancer" But when Dr Harald hausen, a German virologist, tried to confirm the suspicion by using DNA molecular hybridization technology, he failed to find the DNA of HSV in cervical cancer cells < br / > so who is responsible for cervical cancer? Another common sexually transmitted virus, human papillomavirus (HPV), has become a suspect for Dr Harold In the 1980s, the revolutionary progress in molecular biology provided Dr Harold with the experimental tools to verify his doubts Using PCR, DNA hybridization and other techniques, Dr Harold successfully linked cervical cancer with specific types of HPV infection < br / > Dr Harold and his team found that HPV16 and HPV18 cause 70% of cervical cancer cases, and the remaining 30% are caused by about 10 other types of HPV Later, the discovery was confirmed in multiple cell lines including HeLa cells, and cervical cancer became the first cancer with a clear cause in humans Dr Harold was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2008 for his outstanding contributions in the field of disease research < br / > assemble vaccines like building blocks < br / > with the deepening of research, scientists found that in most cases, human beings can self heal after infection with HPV Only persistent infection of the virus will eventually lead to cervical cancer, which usually takes 10 to 15 years, or even longer If there is a vaccine that can inhibit the continuous infection of dangerous virus, it is expected to help human eliminate the threat of cervical cancer < br / > scientists first focused on attenuated and inactivated vaccines, which are the two most common directions for vaccine development The former is to attenuate the virulence of the virus into a vaccine, while the latter is to destroy or kill the pathogenic microorganisms into a vaccine These two methods do not change the external structure of the virus, but can induce the immune response of the vaccinator But these two methods are not applicable in the development of HPV vaccine - even after treatment, the release of carcinogenic HPV virus in human body is still too dangerous < br / > so, how to design the vaccine that people expect? The major capsid protein L1 and minor capsid protein L2 on the surface of the virus have attracted the attention of scientists These two proteins are like two Lego blocks of different shapes, which determine the shape of the HPV virus Scientists hope to use L1 and L2 proteins to form "virus like particles" similar to HPV in human body It's like a hollowed out HPV virus It has the shape of a virus, can induce immune response, and has no genome of the virus, so there is no risk of cancer < br / > ▲ scientists hope that the virus-like particles composed of L1 and / or L2 proteins can become potential vaccines (photo source: Official Website of Lasker prize) < br / > the way to cut through the thorns for the birth of vaccines < br / > follow the vaccine design idea of "virus-like particles", and global scientists are exploring this cause for the benefit of mankind In 1990, Dr Ian Frazer, an Australian immunologist, and Dr Zhou Jian, a Chinese molecular virologist, discovered by chance that L1 and L2 proteins could be assembled into HPV16 like particles in vitro "When we build viruses, we realize that they can self assemble into virus like particles in a set environment without doing anything else," Dr Fraser later recalled < br / > Dr Fraser and Dr Zhou Jian published this revolutionary breakthrough in the Journal of Virology in 1991, in which they introduced in detail the experimental details of making viroid particles However, it is not satisfactory that electron microscopy shows that these particles are smaller than other papillomavirus Does it really work? Dr Fraser and Dr Zhou Jian are in trouble on the road to vaccine development < br / > at this time, two scientists, Dr Douglas Lowy and Dr John Schiller, from the National Cancer Research Institute across the ocean, took over the clearance baton of HPV vaccine development They came up with a brilliant idea - to create a vaccine for bovine papillomavirus (BPV) and then apply its key design to the HPV vaccine Previously, Dr Roy developed a method that can be used to quantitatively analyze BPV infection in laboratory cells Their choice proved to be the key to the success of the venture < br / > the two scientists first tried to make BPV like particles They found that only L1 protein can make BPV like particles Then, they injected BPV like virus particles assembled in vitro into rabbits, and successfully induced strong immune protective response in rabbits But when they copied this idea into the production of HPV16 vaccine, they encountered new problems Two scientists found that human HPV16 virus is very different from BPV, and its L1 protein assembly performance is very poor What's the matter? < br / > scientists have made a lot of assumptions, one of which is that the first viral like particles assembled in vitro are all from cancer patients' samples These cells may have induced genetic variation, which may affect the assembly performance of L1 protein In the trial and error that followed, the guess worked wonders The L1 protein of HPV16 obtained from benign samples can be effectively assembled By comparing cancer samples with benign ones