Posted on 03/23/2021 10:03:52 AM PDT by Jan_Sobieski
You and I are certainly aware of something that the average person is not; that is, that cancer tends to be very complicated and that cancer is not just one thing. “Aneuploidy”, an abnormal number of chromosomes, is a common feature of tumor cells. It reflects an error in cell replication that can result in malignant tumor development.
Similarly, cell replication can take place with a much less dramatic change in DNA such that the coding for just a single protein is affected. If that protein error causes cancerous behavior, then malignant tumors can develop.
People who are waiting for “a cure for cancer” are waiting for something that may never exist, simply because cancer is not one thing. Over about the last two decades the number of cancer deaths has fallen by about one third. That means that we are experiencing about one-third of a cure. We live in amazing times.
For a real eye-opener one should look up the genetic make-up of the tumor cells of Henrietta Lacks. She died of cancer in the fifties and it was found that her tumor cells are “immortal”; that is, they do not undergo apoptosis which is a mechanism of programmed cell death. Her cells have been very instrumental in cell research due to this abnormal property.
I don’t have the link handy but the full color diagram of the genetic defects identified in her cells is quite impressive.
Here’s a link to the diagram of the genome of HeLa cells, named after Henrietta Lacks:
https://genomebiology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/gb-2013-14-4-111#Fig1
Yes, exactly. Massive chromosomal aberrations.
Up to six copies of some chromosomes (normal is two, of course) and myriad translocations and other abnormalities.
My DNA might be a little screwed up, but it's all mine. I don't want somebody's shot altering it.
95% .... for now.
Virus variants found to be deadlier, more contagious; some may thwart vaccines | Reuters
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-science-idUSKBN2B92U7
REMINDER
transplant research turned up the discovery of MHC restrictions
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