Fly Me to the Moon (and Beyond)

At the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting in New Orleans last month, one topic was on everyone’s lips – President Obama’s “Cancer Moonshot”. Announced in January, the $1 billion initiative will be headed by Vice President Joe Biden, who lost his son, Beau, to a brain tumor in 2015. Biden addressed the AACR crowd on the closing day, and touched on the promise of immunotherapy, the need for open data sharing, and new ways of conducting clinical trials. Biden’s comments were met with a positive reception from researchers, who he described as “one of the most valuable resources the country has.”

However, in a special panel discussion on “Maximizing Cancer Cures,” scientists were more tentative. The moderator asked attendees to indicate whether they thought that “moonshot” was a well-chosen word – the majority felt that it was not. 

Some believe that curing cancer – like putting a man on the moon – is an engineering problem. They argue that the central issue is translating knowledge into medical advances. But most cancer researchers believe there’s still a lot of basic biology to work through, not least because every cancer (and every tumor) is different. As NCI Acting Director Doug Lowy said in the same panel discussion, it is important not to put all our eggs (or research dollars) in one basket. There may be huge strides being made in cancer biology, but there could be completely new approaches out there, awaiting discovery (or, like immunotherapy, re-discovery). Indeed, judging by new research that looks set to overturn long-held beliefs about metastasis, even the things we think we know may turn out to be only a small part of a greater puzzle. 

Perhaps it’s not a moonshot that we need, to make progress in cancer research, but a wider space program – a Starship Enterprise committed to exploring the solar system and beyond. Certainly, we need to drive existing science forward to help patients in the short term, but we must also keep searching for the therapies of the future. Targeting both near and distant spheres of interest is likely to be the only way to “cure cancer as we know it” – and will cost a lot more than one billion dollars.

Whether or not AACR attendees agree on the feasibility of a moonshot, there was a sense of optimism at the conference. From cutting-edge cancer genomics to amazing clinical trial results for CAR T-cell therapies, real progress is being made. No doubt, skeptics and believers alike will be watching closely to find out if the VP’s plans really can accelerate new advances into the clinic. Judging by the standing ovation he received, the majority will be rooting for him.

Charlotte Barker
Editor