Cancer myths and questions • 29 July 2025

How long has cancer been around?

Cancer is an old disease. As long as there have been humans and animals, there has probably been cancer. But when was it first discovered? And why is it actually called cancer? We explore the complicated history of cancer, and take a look at some of the research breakthroughs that have led to more people surviving the disease today, than ever before.

How long has cancer existed?

Cancer has been around a long time. It occurs in nearly all animals, and this suggests it has been with us throughout much of evolution - certainly well before humans came along. Researchers have found evidence in the fossil record of cancerous tumours growing in the bones of dinosaurs some 100 to 200 million years ago, and in fossilised fish as far back as 300 million years ago

When did cancer first occur in humans?

We have probably always lived with cancer. The oldest example of human cancer that we have is a case of osteosarcoma, found in the left toe bone of an early human-like relative who lived around 1.7 million years ago in South Africa. Osteosarcoma is still the most common type of primary bone cancer today- most often affecting younger adults and teens.

When was cancer first discovered?

We can’t know for sure exactly when cancer was discovered by humans, but records of cancer-like disease turn up in some of the very earliest human writings.

One of the oldest known written records of cancer is thought to be a description of a breast tumour in an ancient Egyptian medical text called the Edwin Smith Papyrus. This document, a 4.5 metre long scroll, uses hieroglyphics to describe a bulging tumour - for which there was no treatment.

Researchers believe the papyrus was written about 3,500 years ago, in around 1600 BCE. But many also believe that it is a copy of a much older text, possibly dating as far back as 3,000 BCE, right around the time that neolithic humans were busy building Stonehenge in the UK.

Where does the word cancer come from?

The word cancer comes from karkinos, which is the Greek word for crab (this is also where the symbol for the zodiac sign comes from, if you have ever wondered).

While we don't fully understand exactly why ancient Greek doctors started using this word to describe the type of incurable tumour that they were seeing in their patients, it could be because the shape of the blood vessels that grow around a tumour resemble a crab, or even because cancerous growths 'grab' on to an area of the body and don't let go - like a crab's pincers.

Later on, karkinos would be translated by Roman doctors to the Latin word for crab - cancer.

How has our understanding of cancer evolved over time?

Cancer was long believed to be incurable, especially once it had progressed past a certain point. But discovery research also has ancient beginnings, and us humans have never stopped searching for new and better ways to prevent, diagnose, and treat the disease.

1. Ancient herbal preparations

We know from early writings about cancer that Egyptians, and other ancient civilisations used herbs and other preparations to try and treat some types of tumour. They also developed stronger preparations made from toxic compounds, including mercury and arsenic, to treat more advanced cases. Some of these preparations remained in use for over 3000 years – right up until the 1800s.

2. The first mastectomy

Ancient civilizations also resorted to cautery, localised burning of the tumour, or surgery to try and remove cancers, and the first mastectomy to treat breast cancer was actually described around 600 years ACE. Without the modern advances in pain management and infection control though, surgery could often be more dangerous than the cancer itself. It was only used as a last resort, and not for cases where the cancer was known to be incurable.

3. Leeches and bloodletting

Interestingly the Greeks and Romans developed a theory that cancer was caused by an imbalance of ‘humours’ in the body, specifically black and yellow bile. Although not accurate, this idea was rooted in physiology and was an important improvement from earlier beliefs that cancer had supernatural causes.

Humour imbalance causing disease remained a dominant theory for hundreds of years, which led to bloodletting with leeches or other methods, and the use of purgatives, both being used to treat cancer in the middle ages. At this time religious beliefs also made some types of surgery more unpopular, though it did not stop some doctors.

4. The dawn of the modern era

Over the last 500 years our ability to study science and carry out experiments has hugely improved, which in turn has pushed forward our understanding of cancer. Surgical techniques for example, came on in leaps and bounds during the 17th century, while the advent of the modern microscope meant that doctors in the 19th century were able to study the tiny cells that make up tumours for the first time. This meant that we gained new and exciting understanding about how cancer starts, how it grows, and how it spreads.

5. The introduction of radiotherapy and chemotherapy

The use of radioactive substances to treat cancer began in the very early 20th century, soon after the Curies in France discovered radium. Before long, doctors realised that giving several small doses of radiation one after another could effectively treat cancer, and the modern-day course of radiotherapy to treat cancer was born.

The idea of using modern drugs to control and possibly even cure cancer was still pretty much unheard of until the 1940s, when the first chemotherapy was used to successfully treat the blood cancer leukaemia – sparking a whole new revolution in drug treatments for cancer.

Where are we now?

The last 50 years have arguably seen more significant cancer research breakthroughs than the 5000 years before. Worldwide Cancer Research was founded as an international cancer research charity based in Scotland in 1979, and survival rates have doubled in the UK since then, thanks to some incredible discoveries in how to better prevent, diagnose, and treat cancer.

Here are some of the most exciting breakthroughs in cancer research that we’ve seen during that time:

1984
Reduction in smoking-related cancer deaths begins

The UK's first national 'No Smoking Day' was launched in 1984 as part of an ongoing effort to raise awareness of the dangers of smoking tobacco. Since then, continuing research into its cancer-causing properties has contributed to better public awareness and the introduction of effective public health policies. This has led to reduced rates of smoking and has prevented over 28 million smoking-related deaths globally.
The 1980s and 90s
Introduction of cancer screening programmes

The widespread introduction of breast and bowel cancer screening has helped to detect more precancerous and very early-stage cancers, and saved countless lives. Breast cancer screening is estimated to reduce breast cancer deaths by around 1300 a year in the UK, and some studies have found that bowel cancer screening can reduce bowel cancer deaths by as many as 1 in 3.
The early 2000s
The first targeted cancer treatments

Modern targeted therapies attack specific cancer-related molecules instead of killing all rapidly dividing cells like traditional chemotherapy. First introduced to treat leukaemia, modern targeted therapies are now often used to treat many types of cancers, including lung cancer, bowel cancer, skin cancers and blood cancers. They have significantly increased survival rates.
2006
The introduction of the HPV vaccine

The human papillomavirus (HPV) virus is very common and in many cases does not cause any problems, but in some cases, it can cause cervical cancer and other types of cancer too. Thankfully, approval of the HPV vaccine in the mid-2000s has led to the prevention of infection with cancer-causing HPV strains in vaccinated groups, which in turn has resulted in a dramatic reduction in cervical cancer rates.
The 2000s and 2010s
The dawn of personalised medicine

The completion of the full sequencing of the human genome in 2003 signalled the start of the age of genomics. Since then the introduction of next generation sequencing, which can quickly read the code of full strands of DNA faster than ever before, has helped researchers to map hundreds genetic changes across cancer cells. The results? The beginning of personalised medicine - the revolutionary practice of treating a person’s cancer based on its specific molecular and genetic make-up.
The 2010s to now
Checkpoint inhibitors and modern immunotherapies

Breakthrough immunotherapy drugs like PD-1/PD-L1 immune checkpoint inhibitors were first introduced in the 2010s. These treatments stop tumours hijacking the immune system, and have led to huge survival gains in cancers like melanoma, lung cancer, bladder cancer, and others. More recently, CAR-T Cell Therapy, which uses genetically engineered patient immune cells to recognize and kill cancer cells, also looks set to make a huge difference for patients with blood cancers, and perhaps one day solid tumours too.
The 2020s and beyond...
AI, machine learning, and mRNA vaccines

Building on mRNA technology first used for COVID-19 vaccines, researchers are now developing personalised cancer vaccines that train the immune system to target tumours. These vaccines are still being trialled in patients, but they could one day help us to take the next transformative step forward in cancer cures.

At the same time, cutting-edge AI systems that can assist in diagnosing cancers, designing drugs, and spotting new cancer treatment targets are brand new, and look set to continue the revolution in cancer research.

Is cancer more common today than it was in the past?

Although cancer has been around a long time, it is often seen as quite a modern disease, driven in part by today’s challenges of pollution, diet, and different lifestyles. But is this really true? The answer is complicated.

It is true that cancer is now diagnosed at a higher rate than ever before. In fact, cancer diagnosis rates are predicted to increase to over 35 million in 2050, compared to just 20 million cases in 2022.

But this is not necessarily all down to an actual increase in cancer.

As the world’s population increases, so too will the number of people getting cancer. Add this to the fact that people are also living longer, and cancer is often a disease of older age, and this means that some of this increase is down to there being more people, and more of those people living longer.

Is cancer increasing in younger people?

The number of people diagnosed with cancer under the age of 50 years old is increasing worldwide, with some cancers, like prostate cancer and nasopharyngeal cancer, rising more quickly than others.

But again, the reasons for this are likely to be mixed. Changing lifestyle and environmental factors could well play a part for some cancers. But so will better awareness and better screening methods, which are leading to earlier diagnosis of some diseases.

For example, at least some of the increase in prostate cancer cases is because more cases are being picked up earlier due to the introduction of national screening programmes. And more people being diagnosed earlier is actually better, because it means that more people are receiving the treatment they need earlier, at a time when their cancers are more easily treated.

And it is also worth noting that other types of cancer are actually decreasing as we develop better knowledge about prevention. For example, cervical cancer rates are decreasing in many countries where the HPV vaccine is now available.

Why is cancer research still vital today?

We know more about cancer today than we have ever before in history. We know that cancer can be very individual, right down to a single cancer cell’s genetic and molecular details. We now have more treatments, better ways to prevent the disease, and test for it. Cancer was once thought to be ‘incurable’. Now, many more people are being successfully treated, even cured, of the disease.

But there is still so much more that we can learn about how cancer works.

For example, we still do not know exactly how cancer starts, and how it spreads. 45.5% of all cancers were diagnosed at an advanced stage in 2018 and sadly, once a cancer has progressed it is much harder to treat. We need better treatments for cancer that has spread, and better ways to detect cancers earlier. We need more research like Dr Vincenzo Giambra's, which found new evidence that cancer cells are regulated by 'clockwork' genes.

We need better treatments for more cancers.

Unfortunately, not everyone who is diagnosed with cancer today will benefit from the increases in survival rates. For cancers like pancreatic cancer, treatment options are still extremely limited. Recent breakthroughs, like a potential new treatment target identified by cancer researchers in Italy, mean that things are slowly getting better for people with these harder to spot, less treatable cancers. But we still need much more research and better tests and treatments so that we can see these survival rates finally start to improve.

We need more research into rarer cancers.

We still know so little about some rare cancers and because fewer people are diagnosed with these diseases, research tends to be slower, and cures are harder to find. That’s why we support researchers like Dr Pierre Val in France, who is investigating whether the hormone testosterone could help to treat adrenocortical cancer, a very rare and aggressive type of cancer.

You can be the reason that we are able to fund more crucial research projects like these. None of this work would be possible without the support of our incredible Curestarters.

Cancer and cancer research explained