# Paths to cures: interception, eradication, control

Source: https://onco.cc/roadmaps/cure-paths/  
OnCo record `cure-paths` (Roadmap). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Three different ways a cancer stops killing someone: stop it before it starts, remove every last cell, or hold it in check for life. Each needs different technology.

## Summary

Cure is not one goal. Interception prevents a cancer from forming or removes it while it is still precancerous. Eradication removes every malignant cell, which is what surgery plus adjuvant therapy already achieves in early disease and what cell therapy achieves in some leukaemias. Control converts advanced cancer into a managed chronic condition, which is what endocrine therapy in breast cancer and TKIs in CML already do for many patients.

Separating them matters because they have different endpoints, different evidence requirements, and different technologies. An interception vaccine needs decades of follow-up in healthy people; an eradication strategy needs a sensitive measure of residual disease; a control strategy needs sequencing, tolerability, and resistance management rather than depth of response.

## Fields

- Kind: Roadmap
- Last checked: 2026-09-08

## Connected records

- fronts: [Cell Therapy](https://onco.cc/fronts/cell-therapy/), [Early Detection & Screening](https://onco.cc/fronts/early-detection/), [Prevention & Risk](https://onco.cc/fronts/prevention/), [Targeted Therapy](https://onco.cc/fronts/targeted-therapy/)
- technologies: [Allogeneic stem cell transplantation](https://onco.cc/technologies/allogeneic-hsct/), [Androgen deprivation & AR pathway inhibitors](https://onco.cc/technologies/androgen-deprivation/), [Auger-electron therapy](https://onco.cc/technologies/auger-electron-therapy/), [Breath and volatile-organic-compound detection](https://onco.cc/technologies/breath-vocs/), [Cachexia-directed therapy (GDF-15 blockade)](https://onco.cc/technologies/cachexia-therapy/), [Cancer interception vaccines](https://onco.cc/technologies/interception-vaccination/), [CAR-T cell therapy](https://onco.cc/technologies/car-t/), [Cardio-oncology](https://onco.cc/technologies/cardio-oncology/), [cfDNA fragmentomics](https://onco.cc/technologies/fragmentomics/), [Chemoprevention & risk-reducing surgery](https://onco.cc/technologies/chemoprevention/), [Chronotherapy: timing treatment to the body clock](https://onco.cc/technologies/chronotherapy/), [Colorectal cancer screening (colonoscopy, FIT, stool DNA, blood)](https://onco.cc/technologies/colorectal-screening/), [Continuous and near-continuous ctDNA monitoring](https://onco.cc/technologies/continuous-ctdna-monitoring/), [Endocrine therapy (SERMs, AIs, SERDs)](https://onco.cc/technologies/endocrine-therapy/), [Exercise & lifestyle oncology](https://onco.cc/technologies/exercise-oncology/), [Geriatric assessment](https://onco.cc/technologies/geriatric-assessment/), [Germline (hereditary) testing](https://onco.cc/technologies/germline-testing/), [HPV & HBV vaccination](https://onco.cc/technologies/hpv-vaccine/), [In situ vaccination](https://onco.cc/technologies/in-situ-vaccination/), [Logic-gated therapeutics (AND, NOT gates)](https://onco.cc/technologies/logic-gated-therapeutics/), [MRD / molecular residual disease testing](https://onco.cc/technologies/mrd-testing/), [Multi-cancer early detection (MCED)](https://onco.cc/technologies/mced/), [Off-the-shelf cancer vaccines](https://onco.cc/technologies/shared-antigen-vaccine/), [Organoid-guided therapy at scale](https://onco.cc/technologies/organoid-guided-therapy-scale/), [Radioligand plus DNA-repair inhibitor combinations](https://onco.cc/technologies/radionuclide-parp-combination/), [Risk-reducing and opportunistic salpingectomy](https://onco.cc/technologies/risk-reducing-salpingectomy/), [Robotic & minimally invasive surgery](https://onco.cc/technologies/robotic-surgery/), [SBRT / SABR (stereotactic radiotherapy)](https://onco.cc/technologies/sbrt/), [Senolytics and senescence-directed therapy](https://onco.cc/technologies/senescence-targeting/), [Small-molecule kinase inhibitors](https://onco.cc/technologies/kinase-inhibitors/), [Spatial-omics-guided treatment selection](https://onco.cc/technologies/spatial-omics-guided-therapy/), [Systematic drug repurposing](https://onco.cc/technologies/drug-repurposing/), [Targeted alpha therapy](https://onco.cc/technologies/targeted-alpha-therapy/), [Total-body PET for screening and ultra-low-dose imaging](https://onco.cc/technologies/total-body-pet-screening/), [Trained innate immunity](https://onco.cc/technologies/trained-innate-immunity/)
- pathways: [Cancer neuroscience (nerve-tumour signalling)](https://onco.cc/pathways/cancer-neuroscience/)
- roadmaps: [Cancer prevention roadmap: tobacco control and vaccines → biomarker-guided chemoprevention → interception in carriers](https://onco.cc/roadmaps/prevention-roadmap/), [ctDNA tests roadmap: from a curiosity in plasma to blood tests that decide treatment](https://onco.cc/roadmaps/ctdna-tests/), [Hormonal therapy roadmap: removing the ovaries → tamoxifen → oral degraders switched by a blood test](https://onco.cc/roadmaps/hormonal-therapy-roadmap/), [Surgery roadmap: radical operations → less surgery → no surgery when a drug has done the work](https://onco.cc/roadmaps/surgery-roadmap/)

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