Cancer Research Is Looking Beyond the Tumor to Better Understand the Whole Patient

For years, much of cancer research has focused on understanding the tumor itself — how cancer cells grow, what causes them to change and how those cells can be targeted with treatment.

But researchers are increasingly recognizing that cancer does not exist in isolation.

According to Dr. Tobias Janowitz, medical oncologist and research scientist, a growing area of cancer research is focused on understanding cancer as a disease that affects the entire body — and how the body's response to cancer may provide important clues for developing better treatments.

Janowitz is and the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, as well as a senior investigator and principal investigator with a research laboratory at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.

Understanding Cancer as a Whole-Body Disease

"There's an increasing awareness that cancer is a disease of the whole body, and not just the tumor," Janowitz said during an interview with CURE.

While patients and physicians have long understood that cancer and its treatments can affect how someone feels physically, researchers are only beginning to fully understand the biological communication taking place between different organs and systems in the body.

Janowitz said studying these interactions could eventually help researchers understand why patients experience certain effects from cancer and treatment — and potentially identify new ways to improve both treatment and quality of life.

The Growing Role of the Immune System

Looking ahead, Janowitz believes researchers will increasingly examine cancers based on whether they can be treated by activating the immune system, rather than considering cancer only according to where it originated in the body.

Research is exploring whether tumors that are already interacting with the immune system can be made more responsive to it, potentially opening additional treatment possibilities for patients with different cancer types.

Janowitz also highlighted another emerging area: the relationship between cancer, hormones and the nervous system.

Researchers are learning more about how tumors can alter normal signaling throughout the body, including signals that can affect appetite and behavior. Understanding those processes could eventually lead to new approaches for some of the debilitating effects associated with cancer, including appetite loss and weight loss.

Patients Are an Important Part of Cancer Research

For Janowitz, some of the most promising developments in cancer research aren't limited to new technologies or treatments. He is particularly encouraged by the growing collaboration between different scientific and medical disciplines — as well as the increasing emphasis on incorporating patients into research.

"What they are experiencing as symptoms from cancer and cancer treatment — that is the expression of biology," Janowitz said. "Symptoms are findings."

Patient experiences can help researchers identify which questions are most important to investigate and which outcomes matter most to people living with cancer.

A Future Built on Research

Although there is still significant work to be done, Janowitz said the progress made in cancer research over the past decade provides reason for hope.

He pointed to advances showing that some cancers can become curable for certain patients, while others can potentially be managed as chronic diseases rather than immediately life-threatening illnesses.

But he emphasized that continued progress depends on research — from fundamental discoveries about how cancer works to clinical studies that turn those discoveries into treatments.

That process also depends on patients who participate in research and clinical trials.

"I think patients should not underestimate how much of a contribution they already make and they can make in this process," Janowitz said.

For Janowitz, the future of cancer research is being shaped by researchers working across disciplines, by a deeper understanding of how cancer affects the entire body and, importantly, by listening more closely to the people experiencing the disease themselves.

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