Bayer: Science For A Better Life - research

Cancer: From surgery to molecular therapy

Uncontrolled growth

Modern medicine has as yet failed to beat cancer. New perspectives are opening, however: Bayer scientists are working on innovative treatment concepts that combine both diagnosis and therapy, allowing them to be tailored to the individual needs of the patient. Their research work is concentrated on the individual cancer cells that form metastases with their thread-like filaments (red), the ladder-shaped DNA molecules (blue) and the signals (yellow dots) that proliferating tissue receives and transmits.

Therapies intended to treat cancer have been around for over 100 years. Tumors start growing somewhere in the body, painlessly and invisibly. By the time they are discovered, they can reach a considerable size and may already have formed secondary tumors throughout the body. Today, research on the cellular and genetic level enables treatment for cancer to be made increasingly specific and effective. Bayer is actively pursuing the development of this kind of customized cancer therapy.

The target of modern therapies: the individual cancer cell

Until the 19th century the only treatment available for cancer was surgical excision of the tumor. There was no hope of the patient being cured unless the malignant tissue was removed in its entirety and no metastases had formed. The next development in cancer therapy was radioactive rays and chemotherapy. If you want to learn about the new methods that could be available in the future thanks to research into molecular biology, then read the following article.