Posted on 10/24/2018 12:50:27 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
If you thought your cell were mostly normal, it might be time to guess again. Your body may in fact be a shrine to colonies of mutant clones.
It's common knowledge that mutations in cells are what give rise to cancer, but far less is known about what gives rise to mutations in the first place.
Now, scientists have discovered even healthy people's tissue can be "riddled" with genetic mutations, to the extent researchers describe as shocking.
"We discovered that by the time an individual reaches middle age, they probably have more mutant than normal cells," says oncologist and cancer researcher Phil Jones from the Wellcome Sanger Institute in the UK.
Jones and his team used genome sequencing techniques to map groups of mutant cells in donated oesophageal tissue from nine deceased individuals aged between 20 to 75 years old at the time of their death.
Because these individuals had no known history of chronic disease and or oesophageal problems, their tissue was considered healthy for the purposes of the study – but as the research team found out, healthy doesn't mean free from colonisation by mutant clone cells.
"Under the microscope, the oesophageal tissue looked completely normal," says Jones.
"After studying the genetics we were shocked to see that the healthy oesophagus was riddled with mutations."
The research follows up a 2015 study by some of the same team that found healthy eyelid skin cells harboured a high number of somatic mutations - the kind we get through cell division as we age, and which aren't passed down to offspring.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencealert.com ...
We’re all mutants!
Perfect for Halloween.
“We discovered that by the time an individual reaches middle age, they probably have more mutant than normal cells,” says oncologist and cancer researcher Phil Jones from the Wellcome Sanger Institute in the UK.
This just blows up the Chemo-therapy theory. If there are more mutant cells than normal cells; then Chemo is attacking more than 50% of the body.
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