Cancer cells are resistant to radiotherapy, chemotherapy, hormonal or immunotherapy, they evade immune surveillance, have multiple mutations, short doubling time.blaah blaah..my question is how it is possible to take so many steps by a cells/group of cells in a short period of time or what make them to do so?
Whether we are familiar with elephant or just seeing tail as elephant?
Dear Krish,
We have not even seen the whole tail yet. The answers to these and many other questions related to malignant behavior of the cells of cancers is what scientists are trying to answer since last 40 decades. Too fill a little bit of the questions that remain unanswered, is within the genome of the malignant cells. They program the behavior and the course they will take to grow and spread to get the host dead.
Thinking deeper, is what they say is to get the Devil, but my opinion is, what if the devil is very superficial and not in the details? I am onto some superficial things that can explain it. If I get onto something will post at RG of publish.
Best,
Abdul Mannan
The mechanisms necessary for malignancy are present in every cell. In order for multi cellular life to occur there needed to evolve a high level of cooperation between individuals. Cells need to work for the good of the community and so they differentiate to perform specialised rolls and have their rates of division and metabolism highly controlled. The basic functions of a single celled organism remain in every cell of the body. What has evolved are the layers of tight control that allow all these individuals to work to a common goal, that is survival and reproduction resulting in natural selection. Malignancy occurs when there is a breakdown in one or more of these controls and as a result the cell reverts back to a more primal state. No longer is it working towards the common goal and, as an individual population/entity, it is now subject to selective pressures in its own right. The generational turnover for single cells is very fast in comparison to a multi cellular organism and therefore cancerous cells can accumulate the adaptations you mentioned quite quickly simply through natural selection.
Simple answer is Darwinian Selection under pressure from immune system and other therapeutic mechanisms. Only the strong survive! Kind of like a military sweep against guerrlila force, the slow, dumb ones get caught, the smart, fast (or lucky) ones hide and thrive.
Dear Dr Mishra,
Very Interesting question here and I will say, "Survival of the Smartest".
PS: FOR YOUR INTEREST:
ancer tumors as Metazoa 1.0: tapping genes of ancient ancestors
http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1478-3975/8/1/015001/pdf;jsessionid=29C4366A28730F79B16FC5374E7BEA20.c3.iopscience.cld.iop.org
Is Cancer An Ancient Survival Program Unmasked?
http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/cancer-ancient-survival-program-unmasked?page=1
Happy reading,
S
I don't get the part where the Cacer cells are superior. Is killing the host makes sense? They die along with it. Intellegence is to keep the host living and eat the resources.
Mannan
The following three new papers will be interesting.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28252229
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28250806
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28249898
Among three papers suggested above, the PDF files of the following two are now attached for your convenience.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28250806
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28249898
Whether we are familiar with elephant or just seeing tail as elephant?
And we always and in everything will know, as a rule, only the tail or part of the body of an elephant.
And despite this, even without knowing all the mechanisms, we can treat cancer (or in some cases prolong the life of a person for several years). And this is good. And science does not stand still.
For example, in prostate cancer, anti-androgens are not capable of destroying cancer cells, but they prolong the life of the patient. And then there's chemotherapy. And every day of life is a gift from God (and medicine).
***
In 1966, Haggins received the highest award for a doctor - the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. He shared it with his older compatriot, Francis Payton Rouse, who also received a prize for cancer research - for the discovery of oncogenic viruses.
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1966/huggins-bio.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Brenton_Huggins
***
Targeted therapy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Targeted_therapy
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