With South Africa facing a rapidly growing cancer burden, experts warn that more needs to be done to increase access to detection and diagnosis – and a Durban scientist is forging ahead with that goal in mind, reports TimesLIVE.
Watching her father suffer chemotherapy-related complications to treat multiple myeloma was all the motivation Dr Bawinile Hadebe needed to explore alternative treatment for the disease, an endeavour that recently earned her the Saul Hertz Young Investigator Award, presented at the 8th Theranostics World Conference in Cape Town this month in recognition of her PhD work in theranostics.
The award, named after Dr Saul Hertz, the father of theranostics, celebrates its 85th anniversary this year, recognising Hertz’s pioneering work with radioactive iodine, which began in 1941 and laid the foundation for radiotheranostics.
Theranostics is a personalised approach to treatment that integrates diagnostic techniques and targeted therapies to detect and treat various cancers.
Hadebe, a senior UKZN lecturer and Head of the Nuclear Medicine Clinical Unit at Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital (IALCH) in Durban, was honoured for her PhD work in CXCR4-targeted imaging and her contribution towards targeted radionuclide therapies for prostate and neuroendocrine tumours under the guidance of her supervisor and head of the Nuclear Medicine Discipline, Professor Mariza Vorster.
“Cancer is a growing challenge worldwide, and we urgently need new ways to fight it,” said Hadebe. “Theranostics is an exciting approach that lets us ‘see what we treat and treat what we see’. We use a special ‘search-and-destroy’ approach that involves injecting the patient with a specific radiotracer, which finds and highlights cancer cells on a scan (allowing us to see the cancer).”
“We then inject a radiotracer with a more potent radiation, which delivers a targeted dose of radiation to kill those cancer cells while leaving the healthy parts of the body unharmed.”
Because this treatment targets the cancer directly, unlike other treatments such as chemotherapy, many of the harsh side effects can be avoided.
Hadebe, from iXopo on the South Coast, said she had watched helplessly as her father endured the physical and emotional toll of the treatment, a journey that ultimately ended when he died in 2022.
That experience deepened her conviction that patients deserve treatments that are more precise and less debilitating.
Targeted radionuclide therapy, she explains, remains a distant dream for many patients, and more effort is needed to make it more accessible.
Currently there is only approval for prostrate and endocrine treatment, and she believes much lobbying is needed to change this.
Cancer numbers skyrocket
Cansa says South Africa faces a rapidly growing cancer burden, and an estimated 220 000 new cases were predicted by 2030, according to Lorraine Govender, Cansa national manager: health programmes.
Vanessa Snow, head of medical affairs at Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine South Africa, said cancer was “no longer an outlier occurrence”.
“It is becoming more frequent, and the patients are younger, often in their 30s or early 40s.
“What used to be considered a middle-aged diagnosis is now happening in people even in their 20s and 30s,” she said.
Breast cancer remains the most commonly diagnosed cancer among women globally and is now growing in instance in younger age groups, while colorectal cancer was showing the same concerning pattern.
The University of Cape Town reported that nearly 25% of colorectal cancer cases are diagnosed in people under 50, with a large portion of those under 40.
“And these are not isolated incidents,” Snow said. “They are appearing more regularly, especially among young black South Africans, and often without any known genetic risk.”
Lauren Pretorius, CEO of Campaigning for Cancer, stressed the importance of awareness among younger men, noting that testicular cancer remains one of the most significant health threats in this age group.
Beyond these well-recognised cancers, other types traditionally associated with older age are also rising among younger adults. Snow noted that pancreatic cancer, previously seen predominantly in older population groups, is increasingly being diagnosed in younger adults.
“It is no longer unusual to see pancreatic cancer in patients in their 20s and 30s,” she said.
Kidney, thyroid and stomach cancers are also being diagnosed more often in people under 50, and the same upward trajectory is being observed in certain blood cancers, including B-cell lymphomas and plasma cell neoplasms.
These trends are echoed in global epidemiological studies, which show that these cancers are among the 14 types increasing most rapidly in younger populations.
TimesLIVE article – Researcher’s search and destroy cancer mission rewarded (Restricted access)
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