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To: Orange1998
It is hard. Basically every kind of cancer is like a different disease.

Different tumor types can have different oncogenes activated. Oncogenes are genes that are active in development, but are turned off after birth. Something damages the promoter (switch) and the gene turns on. There are also a few tumor supressor genes that are normally on after birth that keep the oncogenes turned off and if damaged, can cause tumors (ex: retinoblastoma).

That is why there will very likely be no one "cure" for cancer.

7 posted on 11/03/2003 6:52:26 PM PST by Wacka
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To: Wacka
True but every advance will save many lives.
8 posted on 11/03/2003 6:54:48 PM PST by HuntsvilleTxVeteran (CCCP = clinton, chiraq, chretien, and putin = stalin wannabes)
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To: Wacka
There is something very interesting about mesothelioma which I think is being missed... It's caused by asbestos, which is a relatively inert mineral substance. The asbestos fibers kill cells in the lining of the lungs, and the defensive leukocytes, *mechanically* - by puncturing them. That means that with mesothelioma the cancer is produced by a bodily reaction only, not a chemical process involving an interactive irritant such as a carcinogenic chemical or a virus.

The other interesting thing is that mesothelioma can result from a single exposure to inhaled asbestos over 20 years in the past.

I keep thinking they're missing something here... If the genetic changes to which you refer can in this case be produced by a solely mechanical agent, the process of cancer development in this case has to be entirely produced by the body's "normal" processes for dealing with foreign objects, when it becomes so "overworked" over a period of many years attempting to deal with foreign objects of which the leukocytes cannot dispose. It seems to me there's a key piece of evidence of the process for mutation there which may be being overlooked.

12 posted on 11/03/2003 7:41:14 PM PST by fire_eye
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