Cancer Clear and Simple
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Cancer Clear and Simple
Dr. Joshua Lang on Liquid Biopsies: The Future of Cancer Detection
Dr. Joshua Lang from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Carbone Cancer Center discusses liquid biopsies, a revolutionary approach that uses simple blood samples to detect and monitor cancer, offering less invasive alternatives to traditional tissue biopsies.
• Liquid biopsies detect cancer cells or materials in blood, finding as little as one cancer cell among a billion blood cells
• These tests are especially useful for monitoring cancer after treatment, detecting genetic changes that cause resistance, and expanding access to advanced diagnostics
• Dr. Lang's research was inspired by his patients' needs, particularly understanding why cancers become resistant to treatments
• Certain cancers show promising results with liquid biopsies, including melanoma, bladder cancer, and colon cancer
• Community participation in research, with almost 1,500 patient volunteers at UW, has been crucial to advancing liquid biopsy technology
• Participating in research studies could dramatically speed up the approval of life-saving treatments – potentially saving tens of thousands of lives
• Modern research participation ensures patients maintain complete control over their samples and data
• Programs like REACH and WiscShare are expanding access to research opportunities in rural and underserved communities
If you're interested in learning more about liquid biopsies or participating in cancer research, contact the Carbone Cancer Center or visit the WiscShare website to explore opportunities to contribute to groundbreaking cancer research.
Hello and welcome back to the Cancer Clearance Simple Podcast, where we break down complex cancer topics into conversations that are easy to understand, informative and empowering for our communities. I'm your host, joshua Wright, and today's episode is especially exciting. We're joined by Dr Joshua Lang, a physician scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Carbone Cancer Center. Dr Lang is doing groundbreaking work in the field of Wisconsin-Madison Carbone Cancer Center. Dr Lane is doing groundbreaking work in the field of liquid biopsies, a powerful and less invasive way to detect and monitor cancer using just a simple blood sample. This approach has the potential to change how we diagnose cancer, how we track its progress and, most importantly, how we expand access to cutting edge cancer care and research for everyone, especially those who have been historically left behind.
Speaker 1:In this episode, we'll dive into what liquid biopsies are, why they matter and how Dr Lange and his team are working to make sure this innovative research reaches every corner of our community. So, whether you're a patient, a caregiver or just curious about the future of cancer care, this conversation is for you. Let's get into it. So welcome, dr Lange. Let's start with the beginning. What sparked your interest in medicine and research? Was there a specific moment that drew you into the field of oncology?
Speaker 2:Well, first, thank you for the opportunity to join you, joshua.
Speaker 2:This is really an exciting venue and really just thrilled to be here.
Speaker 2:In terms of how I started, actually, you know, when I was growing up, I had no interest in medicine.
Speaker 2:I was the first in my family to go to college, and it wasn't until I was in graduate school where I was really fortunate to get involved in a research project project helping take care of stroke survivors on the west side of Chicago, and that was really one of my first experiences working with patients and starting to understand just the opportunities but also the needs and how we could do better for people fighting different types of ailments.
Speaker 2:So then, that's what led me to apply to medical school, and when I was in medical school, I still vividly remember being on a clinical rotation and there was a woman who was admitted and we diagnosed her with, unfortunately, what was ovarian cancer. And being able to be a part of that discussion, that her journey, helping her and her family understand what they were facing and then what those next steps were, that was really so inspiring to me, and and that's what led me to say you know what I think this is a place where I can make a difference and ultimately led me into the field of oncology, where I was very fortunate to do my clinical training and my research training here at the University of Wisconsin.
Speaker 1:Wow, okay, your work is at the intersection of patient care, research and innovation. What keeps you motivated in the work you do day to day?
Speaker 2:Every day. It's my patients. Whenever there's something I'm not sure about, my patients will tell me what we need to be studying whether it's something that their cancer has changed. That's one of the areas that led to some of the things that we'll talk about today of my cancer has changed. The therapy I've been on for months or years of time has stopped working. How, why and how do we use that information to then guide us to the next or best treatment option? And unfortunately, we just don't get enough of that information with the routine tests that we have available to us now. So, really, my patients continue to inspire me every day in terms of the things we should be doing research on and how we can do better and help them in their journey fighting cancer.
Speaker 1:Can you speak a little bit about your patient experience with that first person that was diagnosed? Did you get to know them at all in that process and can you speak a little bit about how they handled that news in receiving that information?
Speaker 2:Absolutely Well.
Speaker 2:So this is where, as a medical student, I had those opportunities where I had more time, where I could sit with her and sit with her family in terms of the symptoms that ultimately led her to come in, and then what she was hoping for and what her family was hoping for, but then also all those other steps of how do you make that diagnosis, whether that's doing scans or doing biopsies, and then all the different types of tests we need to do after that biopsy is taken.
Speaker 2:So I was really fortunate to be able to spend time with her in that journey and really see what she was facing and all the uncertainties that come with, you know, the symptoms, the scans, the biopsy, let alone getting, and that's all just getting us up to the point of being able to start therapies. And that was such a powerful experience for me and really, you know it shined a light on all the things that were taught in medical school. But the patient journey is so very different and really, again, when in doubt, ask your patients and they'll tell you. And I found that is one of the most powerful things that again led me into the field of oncology but also continues to inspire me in terms of what should we be doing research on?
Speaker 1:Thank you because I want to continue to get out there that you know the doctors that are the real people doing the work in terms of these equations behind the scenes. They very much are still doing a lot of learning from the people that they're helping and serving, and so you very much just really opened my eyes and gave a great example. So can you share a bit about your path to UW-Carbon and how your research focus evolved over time?
Speaker 2:Absolutely Well. As I mentioned, you know I was I had no background and no interest either in medicine or let alone oncology. So I was in graduate school and I was actually studying kinesiology and very fascinated with how the body works and how systems interact with each other and really thought that was going to be the path that I was going to take. And then, as I said, you know what, as much as I love the research, I just don't know that the science I'm doing is actually going to make it to help somebody. And that was where I decided to make that switch to and apply to medical school and, very fortunate, to be accepted at the University of Illinois, at Chicago. And while I was in medical school I started to experience and especially again, as I mentioned, seeing our patients in terms of what I think we're not able to help with the limits of medicine back at that time. And then that kind of sparked that moment of wow, that research thing is pretty good. If only I could do more of that. And I was really fortunate. I had some great advisors and mentors who said there's actually an opportunity at some universities and the University of Wisconsin is one of them where you can combine your clinical training with extra research training. So that's where I applied for residencies and fellowships and committed to oncology very early on, even before I started my residency, and UW had one of those combined programs and I'm just so grateful that I was able not only to be accepted into the program but the amazing clinical training that I received. So I condensed my clinical training from the usual five years down into three and spent kind of all my. I spent almost three years in the hospital and the wards and had this great clinical experience that then, as I went into the research years, I was able to start asking some of those questions.
Speaker 2:For me, one of my most inspiring moments was a patient who he had come into the cancer center for a second opinion and his prostate cancer was resistant to all the therapies that had been given and were approved by the FDA or available, and he had the option of going on a phase one clinical trial, which is a phase one trial when we have a drug that we're excited about and shown some evidence that it works in the early studies, but we're still trying to figure out what the right dose of the therapy should be, what are the side effects, how frequently we should give it.
Speaker 2:So there's a lot of unknowns and these are just again, the most, the bravest, most amazing patients, because they're the ones who come and saying look, obviously I want to do something to fight my cancer, but I also want to help learn, I want to help the field advance in a way that's going to help other people fighting the same disease. So he enrolled in this phase one trial and within a month and it doesn't happen for most trials, but within a month his cancer was shrinking and he had prostate cancer that had spread to his bones and he was on morphine for pain medications and he was stopping his morphine because the symptoms were improving so quickly. And that was such an inspiring moment for me of why we do research and how we can help men and other patients fighting any type of cancer this is a great listening experience for me as a host because I'm following along the journey.
Speaker 1:First, to just touch back on the fact that you were mentioning that research wasn't a focus or something that you saw that you saw yourself doing a lot of in the beginning stages, right.
Speaker 1:But then all of a sudden you got to a point where it came back and it's all this makes sense, sense for what the science needs to move forward, and then just to kind of hear that concrete example of a success story that happens in such a short amount of time, right. So I think that you know something that I've gotten used to understanding about learning about cancer outcomes is, you know we have to wait years to see you know results or kind of understand what the progress is going to look like. We have to wait years to see you know results or kind of understand what the progress is going to look like down the road. But this story, you know, seeing how cancer research is asking questions that can be applied to real people's lives right away, is super exciting, and I will not waste time here to try to transition from clinical trials into just backing up and understanding For folks who may have never heard of them. What is a liquid biopsy and how does it differ from a traditional biopsy?
Speaker 2:So a liquid biopsy is this idea that we can either get cancer cells or material from cancer cells from a blood draw, rather than the usual tissue biopsy where, for example, maybe there's a CAT scan that's done and we see that there's something in the liver that shouldn't be there, in which case we need to help that patient, anesthetize that patient, put them to sleep, basically, so we can go in and do a biopsy of the liver and then take that tissue and look at it under a microscope or do other kinds of genetic testing to try to figure out exactly what it is, why is it there and what are the ways we could attack it. We could put that surgery or radiation or other types of systemic therapies like chemotherapy or immune therapy or others too. So that's the traditional biopsy approach, and the liquid biopsy approach is sort of this idea that when cancer is developing in the body, that those cancer cells actually do send some material that ends up in blood and that can either be DNA or other proteins that are specific for that cancer. It can even be whole cancer cells or circulating tumor cells, which is really important, especially when we think about how does cancer start in one place and spread to some other part of the body. There's got to be some highway that it travels, and that highway is usually blood.
Speaker 2:So what we do with liquid biopsies is try to leverage that opportunity to find these either cancer proteins or DNA or cancer cells, but from a blood draw. Now, the biggest difference between a liquid biopsy and a tissue biopsy is that with a tissue biopsy we can get thousands or tens of thousands of cancer cells, which makes it a lot easier for us to study them and figure them out. A liquid biopsy, there may be only one cancer cell for every billion blood cells so incredibly rare. We are way past finding a needle in a haystack with liquid biopsies, but that's where the technology has continued to improve and we've been a part of trying to advance that field. So we can find these very rare cells or rare pieces of DNA in circulation to try to better diagnose and understand cancer.
Speaker 1:Just as you said earlier, Okay, so I'm starting to hear a little bit of this next question, but let's let you run free in answering it. Why are liquid biopsies such a game changer in the field of cancer detection and treatment?
Speaker 2:Well, I think there's really a few different areas where liquid biopsies are already changing the game. The first is in terms of how do we identify and understand the genetics of cancer, and especially cancer that can change, meaning I have patients who have metastatic prostate cancer, for example, and while their cancer initially responds to the hormone therapies we give, resistance ultimately develops for nearly everybody, and a lot of times not always, but oftentimes there's because new genetic mutations have developed. But trying to do a tissue biopsy, especially if cancer is spread to bone, for example, which is very common in prostate cancer that's really hard. And you know a specialized center like the University of Wisconsin. We have a success rate around 80%, which is very high compared to most centers where it's only 30 to 40% success rate, just to do that biopsy, let alone do the genetic testing after that can I jump in and ask in terms of that accuracy of uh?
Speaker 1:is it that process of identifying the cancer like the conclusiveness of the results, or is it a situation of like missing uh, something that's there that they all of it, All of the above, it can go wrong at multiple different places from you know which spot do you do the biopsy from?
Speaker 2:How do you acquire that tissue? How do you save or preserve that tissue? How do you do the genetic analysis? There's a reason why it's so complex and why it takes a lot of specialized centers to do that kind of work.
Speaker 1:And you were saying that the difference with having access to liquid biopsies does what for that equation, or where were we going in that?
Speaker 2:Well, and to your point earlier of how do we expand access to cutting edge diagnostics, cutting edge tests. People can get a sample of blood drawn nearly anywhere in the country. Almost anywhere you're at you can get blood drawn. And you can get a sample of blood drawn nearly anywhere in the country, almost anywhere you're at. You can get blood drawn and you can get it shipped overnight to a place that can do those types of DNA or liquid biopsy analyses for RNA protein kind of you name it. So I think that's where the research has shown the opportunities for liquid biopsies is it's more accessible, it's simpler to get, but there's a lot of technical challenges too, because we're talking about very rare cells or rare pieces of DNA. So there's a lot of consideration and that's where the research over the last 15 years I mean we have changed and evolved and improved so much in just these last 10, 15 years alone. It's really amazing.
Speaker 1:Yes, all of that, and my mind is spinning. That's why I'm not trying to go off into where I'm asking questions. But let's come back around to what are some of the current challenges or limitations you're working to overcome in this space great question.
Speaker 2:Well and I think it comes back to your earlier question too, of where are the ways that liquid biopsies can help. You know I mentioned that for patients who have metastatic cancer meaning that we know it's spread to different parts of the body we often see that they have a higher burden of circulating tumor cells or circulating cancer DNA. And those are patients where we can use liquid biopsies to understand how resistance develops. And that's where the research in my laboratory is really trying to expand that of going beyond DNA to different types of cancer, proteins or RNA.
Speaker 2:But as we've had success for patients with metastatic cancer, we're also asking how can we do better for patients with earlier stages of cancer and monitoring their disease.
Speaker 2:So, for example, if someone's had surgery to remove a cancer but they're still at a risk of it coming back, we often follow them and do CAT scans every three months or so, and it's different for every disease. The problem is CAT scans also take time, they're not easy to go through, they can be expensive, or PET scans or any of these other studies that we do. It's really vital we have those studies and that's the gold standard, but liquid biopsies are coming in as something that actually may be more sensitive to find cancer if it comes back and if we can find it earlier, that creates other opportunities for us to try to perform a surgery or something else to try to cure that cancer or with some of the other therapies that are being developed, like immune therapies that might be able to eradicate that cancer as well. So it's really changed the game in terms of how we think about monitoring patients who have different types of cancer.
Speaker 1:This is extremely interesting and I'm hearing the types of patient populations that may benefit or will benefit from this new technology. But are there specific cancer types that might benefit like most upfront from these technologies or these techniques?
Speaker 2:Yeah, such a great question. For some of the assays in terms of the disease monitoring and the other term you might hear is minimal residual disease or MRD. What that's trying to do is detect cancer after someone's had a procedure like a surgery to remove a cancer, we still need to monitor to see if the cancer comes back, and that's something where there's been some cancers where we've had a lot of success with this approach. So melanoma is one example, bladder cancer is another example. Colon cancer is another example where we're starting to see some real benefit in terms of being able to identify recurrent cancer. That's also where we have to pair the liquid biopsies with the different treatments that are being developed.
Speaker 2:For example, we do see signs of cancers coming back. The immediate question my patients ask is what do we do about it? So first we ask well, can we find it? Is it in one place in the body that we can treat with surgery or radiation? Or maybe we don't see anything at all, in which case we ask well, then maybe this is a time where we should be giving some kind of immune therapy. But that's where clinical trials are so important for us to figure out which is the best therapy, depending on the results of the test that a patient should receive. So I'm really excited about where liquid biopsies are, because now it's creating all these different opportunities in terms of how we can take care of these patients who are at a high risk of cancer coming back after surgery.
Speaker 1:This is beautiful, and I just want to put an extra emphasis on the complexity of what screening is like or what testing is like. With the complexity of our bodies you're being very careful to, I think, communicate to people that our bodies are sensitive and where we go and do stuff to it matters, and so I just, you know, I'm taking that in, but I'm not taking it for granted, and I appreciate how you're treating that and you know just the things that we're connecting here with where the research, where the science is going, and so you're not just conducting research, you're also working to make people, making sure people know about it and how they can participate. So how are you helping to get more people exposed to clinical research and breakthroughs like liquid biopsies?
Speaker 2:Well, thank you for asking the question, because it is one of the most important things that we do is engage our patients and engage our community, because anytime we develop a new test, the hope is that it's something that's going to be not just sensitive meaning it's going to be able to be really effective at finding cancer but it's also going to be specific meaning that if we get a positive result, we can really trust that it's positive, rather than what we also call a false positive, which is something where we see a signal but as we do further testing we find out that there actually wasn't cancer at all. So we've got to define that for every kind of test that's done. You know, and that's unfortunately a common occurrence in some settings For example, mammograms so important to do mammogram screening for breast cancer but sometimes there are results from the mammogram where we recommend doing a biopsy, and the biopsy is done and it turns out it wasn't cancer at all, just because, again, it looked suspicious but it wasn't actual cancer. So we have to, with all of these tests, we really have to define how well they actually work, and you can't do that with animal studies or other things like that. We can only figure that out from the donations of our patients and from the donations of people in the community who say you know what? I want to help you figure out. If this, for example, prostate cancer, liquid biopsy, which stage of prostate cancer is it most effective for? Which stage of prostate cancer is it most effective for? So we have amazing patients here at UW.
Speaker 2:We started a research study a number of years ago and we've had almost 1500 patients enroll to it and it's because of their donations and these are the most amazing people you'll ever meet because every one of them says you're already drawing blood. My doctor's already getting a few tubes of blood. Take a few more, take it for research, discover something that's going to help somebody else in the future. And our goal is to try to discover something that's going to help them now. Doesn't always happen, but that's always our goal.
Speaker 2:But because they've made those donations, we're able to figure out how well these tests work and also the areas where we can improve them. And that has also led us to be able to say you know which different cancers could this work? And we're also asking some questions and, as you and I have talked about before, we also want people who don't have cancer to be a part of this. So that way we can also say what is the kind of the normal range for some of these tests and you know the PSA screening test for prostate cancer is a great example of that, where we have what we call a normal range, but we know that's not normal for everybody. So how can we be more effective and get our patients the best tests at the right time and know how well they work?
Speaker 1:Something just clicked for me in what you were saying. It's something simple. So it's just the fact that how normal we're all like in this medical sense we're looking for normal, normal is good. So just in that way, you know, in my life, you know thinking about being exceptional in other types of ways, but when it comes to the medical field I want to be right in that range. But you know, just in what you're saying, the importance of understanding accurately what that range is is important. So just kudos to everything that you all are doing and being able to stay attuned with the concepts of what normal can be and what it can look like, but also stretching and reaching to find out how we can apply that in the best ways possible. And so just, are there any outreach strategies or partnerships you found effective in reaching underrepresented or rural communities?
Speaker 2:Well, thank you for asking that question, because those are some of the areas that we're trying to innovate right now. We have some amazing people throughout the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine who are actively working with different groups. So we actually have a project right now that's being supported by the Wisconsin Partnership Program where we are bringing in these experts who are working with different communities across the state and they're now saying, well, gosh, we should be working with you to identify people who are interested collecting some extra tubes of blood when they're getting it drawn or other things that they're interested in donating and creating, and bring it back to the university so we can start studying it, and studying it immediately, not just something that's going to sit in a freezer for three or five years, but really start to analyze those samples immediately. So that's some of the outreach efforts that we're really trying to improve and include involve what we call biospecimen science.
Speaker 2:Biospecimen is essentially a person saying, yeah, take an extra tube of blood or some saliva or something else that you can study and try to understand how well these tests work for people who don't have cancer or for people who do. So those are some of the outreach efforts and hopefully, as these opportunities come to the community, the communities that will say, yeah, I'm interested. Or I would love for the community members to reach out to me and others to say, actually you know what, we are interested, so come to us, we're here, get out there and we will be on the way. So we have a lot of folks in the School of Medicine here at UW that are doing this and want to do it more.
Speaker 1:Okay, that is a good way to know how it happens, but can you talk about the trust building and making research feel more approachable in that picture that you just laid out?
Speaker 2:Absolutely Well, and one of the things I think is so important is that people who are participating in research and any kind of research, including whether it's donating samples or being a part of a clinical trial is making sure they know that they never lose control, that if someone ever says, hey, I signed up to be a part of this, but I don't want to do it anymore easy, that we're able to take the, you know, stop collecting samples or collecting data, or if they say, you know what, I want you to get rid of the samples you did collect, you have complete control and we will dispose of those samples or get rid of any data.
Speaker 2:So I think that's one area in terms of trust building, but also really empowerment, that, being a part of a research study back when I was growing up, people talked about if you were in research, you were a guinea pig.
Speaker 2:That is absolutely not the case anymore. The field has completely changed and we have so many rules in place and patient empowerment to make sure that people, that your autonomy is respected and maintained throughout and you never lose control, which then allows us to make sure that the work you're doing especially when people sign up, that they understand what we're doing and why we're doing it, and that, I think, is also where we make sure we're addressing the questions that they have for us. Just like I said at the very beginning, my patients tell me what they want me to study because they say, josh, my cancer became resistant and can you help figure that out? In which case, that's what I'm going to do, because that's the goal of my cancer research laboratory and many others here at the Carbone Cancer Center. So I think, with all the clinical trials and clinical research studies, including the biospecimen donation, that's another way for people to be a part of research without losing control.
Speaker 1:Yes, another small thing that I picked out from all the wonderful things that you're explaining here is the rules part, and just in terms of what gives legitimacy or credibility to the doctors and what it is that they're doing. It's a lot of the rules that you know. We don't get to see that you are abiding by right and to know that that picture of how our medical field has changed and evolved in very good ways. You know, just still having to contend, possibly with popular media and you know all the shows that we like to watch and consume, where there's questionable things that are going on behind the scenes. But in real life, I like to try to approach that in these conversations as well, because that is important.
Speaker 1:What you said about the control is, I think, very hugely important with the way that some of these kind of testing facilities have become commodified. I know that you know genetic testing, in terms of family trees and things like that, is something that has been popularized and through that way, you know, the controversies have come back around, around saying, okay, well, what happens if this company has to change hands? Right, and what you're saying is very different. We're working in a different field where, yes, we understand the sensitivities around it. There have been accords that have been agreed upon around protecting human subjects in the research, and so what you're saying is something that can be very tricky, but I really appreciate how you really just brought it together like that. And so, in terms of if somebody is listening and is curious about clinical research or wants to know more about liquid biopsies, where should they start?
Speaker 2:Thank you for asking that question too, because there are some direct ways that people can reach out, specifically through the cancer center, and we have some other information on our WiscShare website of people and community members can reach out and say I'm interested in learning more and if there's something that I can be a part of, how can you get that information back to me?
Speaker 2:So, going through the Carbone Cancer Center and what's called WiscShare, as well as a few others, we can come out to where you're at and figure out how best to work with you and if you're here at UW Health, that creates some other opportunities to learn more about the entire research opportunities, because there really are opportunities for people at every place in their journey in cancer. Thank you, and that's something that we're really excited to be expanding on that, because, while a lot of things started at the Carbone Cancer Center itself, we need to come out to where our community members are. So we have a couple of different programs that are already active going out to different rural and underserved communities, and we're now looking to expand some of those programs, including the REACH study R-E-A-C-H. So that's one program in addition to WSCHARE and that includes cancer, but there's also other projects across other diseases in cardiology, alzheimer's disease, aging research. So so many opportunities that I'm really excited for those to continue to grow and expand.
Speaker 1:Wow, and what would you say to someone who's hesitant but interested in participating in research?
Speaker 2:The one I usually ask is what are they interested in? What are the things that are affecting either them, their loved ones, their community members, and are there ways that they can be a part of the solution? I give the example of some of the most effective therapies that I use for my patients with prostate cancer right now. Those clinical trials took about five years to enroll enough patients for us to see how well these therapies worked. You know that's going from the early phase one trial of what's the right dose all the way to the phase three trial. Imagine if we'd enrolled enough patients in two years instead of five. We would have saved tens of thousands of lives if we had just cut that time in half. And that's just. I'm talking about one therapy for one disease.
Speaker 2:Those are the opportunities but frankly, the needs is that the sooner we finish enrolling patients to these different research studies, the sooner we finish enrolling patients to these different research studies, the sooner we know which therapies work and which ones don't, and then we can move people faster into either getting that therapy approved by the FDA or getting people onto the next therapy or the next advance. And that's, I think, the other big lesson in my career over the last 10 years or so is that we have so many advances. I mean, this is the most exciting time I can ever imagine in cancer research not just in what we do in the lab, but what we're doing with patients and because of all those opportunities, this is where we can move so much further and so much faster that the sky's the limit. So that's what we want to achieve the limit.
Speaker 1:So that's what we want to achieve. The part around being able to ask a person what they want out of research also just reminded me that you know we're closer to research than we really like to think about at any given point or time. You know the chair that we sit in, somebody researched the engineering part of you know what's the comfortable posture, and so you know I mean just to also kind of see the numerical value of being included in what you're saying as well, like that was a very strong to my just kind of inner workings around the importance or the ability to move forward the science through my participation. And so you know, going from a five-year time period to a two-year time period, you know if we could manage that and figure that out, that sounds fantastic. And so, again, thank you so much for breaking those things down. And so, just kind of, as we're moving into a wrap up here, what's something you're hopeful about when you look at the future of cancer detection?
Speaker 2:and care. We're doing so much better of a job of understanding. We always knew that every person is different, but we also understand that every cancer is different. And as we do a better job of understanding how and why these cancers are different from patient to patient you know I'm talking about the folks I see in my clinic that allows me to really understand how could we personalize therapies in a completely different way, Because we have all these new treatments that are coming up in clinical trials and getting FDA approved, and if we can understand that, what is the right therapy for that person and that cancer at that time. I think that's what's going to drive us to increasing the cure rate.
Speaker 2:You know there are a lot of cancers that we can cure. Testicular cancer is a great example of that. Where, go back into the 1980s, the mortality rate from testicular cancer was greater than 90%? Now our cure rate for testicular cancer is over 95%. So there's lots of cancers we can cure, but there's so many we can't. And all of these new tests create this opportunity for us to better understand why each person is different and why each cancer is different, and that's how we're going to, I think, drive the next generation of cures for cancers that historically have been uncurable.
Speaker 1:I need to just give a visual representation to that 90% swing right. So, in my mind, if I'm out of the basketball court and somebody passed me the ball and I miss it 90% of the time, and then all of a sudden the next game comes back and I ask for the ball and I'm hitting 90% of now, and to see like we can continue to make strides to that extent with other circumstances when it comes to cancer is really exciting. And so, as we're really kind of winding down here, you've been very great in being able to answer these questions, dr Lang, but if you could leave one key message with our listeners today, what would it be?
Speaker 2:Well, that's a big question. I would say that my key message is all of the advances we have in cancer today, as of right now, are because of the amazing donation of patients who came before and said I want to do better, not just for myself, but for everyone who's fighting this disease or my loved ones who may also fight this disease someday. And I've got more examples of ones we could bring up immunotherapy, melanoma. You know, there's so many different ways that we have advanced the field and it's because of their donations, of their time that we are here now and it's because of them that I can see a future where cancer care is completely revolutionized and we continue to push towards cure, even for the most aggressive cancers. We're not there yet for all of them, but we've come so far in the last decade, so I can only imagine what the next decade is going to hold.
Speaker 1:Well, there you have it. Just want to give another huge thank you to you, dr Lang, for spending some time with us here on the Cancer Clearance and We'll podcast. We just want to say thank you to all of our listeners, the Carbone Cancer Center, for continuing to want to find different ways to do the engagement work and continue to be expansive in the ways that we're doing the outreach in our center. And that brings us to the end of today's episode. A big thank you to Dr Joshua Lang for sharing his time, expertise and passion with us.
Speaker 1:Understanding innovations like liquid biopsies helps us not only see where cancer research is headed, but also why it's so important to make sure everyone has access to the latest tools and treatments, no matter who they are or where they live. Here at Cancer Clear and Simple, we encourage you to keep the conversation going with your family, your community or your healthcare provider. Be sure to follow or subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss future episodes, and if you found this helpful, please share it with someone you love. Until next time, stay, stay empowered, stay connected. Peace.
