yes, we're learning a lot, but no, the promised revolutions aren't forthcoming. Not only are there technical reasons why it's unlikely we'll see a very near term revolution in treatment. There are huge political, monetary and bureaucratic reasons, too. They are just as important to understand as the technical reasons.
This is a field that deeply interests me, but my knowledge is effectively zero. I'd love to get your insight, as one that is on the ground in the field.
Cancer is basically a generic term for the loss of a cell's division control cycle - the cell starts to divide uncontrollably, forms tumors, metastasizes, causes neovascularization to feed itself, etc. This loss of control can happen for so many different reasons related to the quantities and ratios of proteins synthesized that each cancer is like a separate class of disease that needs its own treatment.
It's the same reason that there's no single fix for "car is broken". Except our understanding of this car is orders of magnitude more limited than one that we designed ourselves.
"There are huge political, monetary and bureaucratic reasons, too."
As a standard web / mobile developer how could I help at least in those areas?
Also, the way we fund and execute most health research is very broken. We could organize and manage this far better than we can- but it would take a lot of changes and stepping on a lot of toes. Again, there's a tech side, but the tech side is "easy" compared to the politics and money parts.