[thebradbain]

Suppressing tumor growth is how you kill cancer, is it not? Cancer cells themselves, like the original cells they mutate from, don't live forever. Depending on which type of cell we're talking about, they can die within hours (e.g. skin cells)/days (e.g. blood cells)/months (e.g. liver cells). The issue with cancer cells is they are reproducing like crazy way faster than they die, which is why the tumors grow bigger and bigger. Chemo and surgery attempt to kill or remove the tumors immediately, yes, but my understanding is that's because we have no way to stop the growth and the only hope is to eradicate them entirely before they grow too big to treat, which is why the cancer could come back if any parts are missed.

You stop the cancer cell reproduction and overall tumor growth, you also kill the cancer.

[jjtheblunt]

suppressing growth does not equate to 100% regression.

the growth rate could be suppressed to match the attrition rate and turn into a steady state, rather than eradication of the mutant cell lines (and their progeny).

[rdsubhas]

If it turns into a controlled steady state, does it still fit the medical definition of cancer?

[jjtheblunt]

good question, but cancer is generally replicating aneuploidy, so it's curious for sure