This week reading allows the readers to take a visual scientific journey
to learn about an evolutionary way to view cancer. We’ve learned about
accumulation of cells and their mutations during our lifetime (Somatic
evolution), reasons why individual develop cancer, ways to achieve longevity
via chemotherapy, as well as a host of other far-reaching material about
evolution and cancer. And as scientist, “attempt to understand the reason why
the system of the body are limited in their capacities to protect us from
disease”; humans are still developing cancer despite the idea that our body has
the capacity to protect us. But the way
in which we view cancer is being exemplified in the article entitled, “Evolutionary
Foundation for Cancer Biology”, and we learned about six evolutionary
explanations, and why organisms are vulnerable in developing cancer. This article also explains how cancer is a
rarity.
Even after reading this article, it is hard to believe that cancer is
rare, because I know so many people who has cancer, and six family members that
was diagnosed with cancer (could be a genetically based). It was interesting to
read about chemo resisting cells and treating cancer with a lower dose of
chemotherapy. When my Aunt Susan had cancer (she unfortunately passes away in
2005) she received radiation (Radiation therapy uses high-energy radiation to kill cancer
cells by damaging their DNA), and Chemotherapy. She was receiving the therapy
at the highest does available, and reading this article I realized that the
high does not necessarily mean you will be cured faster. I have had the
pleasure to meet so many wonderful individuals who happen to have cancer, or
who had cancer that is and was dong/going through chemotherapy. And most of the
individual die due to the fast replication of the cancer cell, and metastasis.
Overall, this week readings demonstrate that cancer is a perplex
condition and can be caused by multiple factors. You can develop cancer from
genetic factors, hormone imbalances, too much energy intake, less energy
output, tobacco availability, HPV, cell mutation, inflammation, change in
neighboring support cell, genetic modification, infection, and overall can’t be
prevented. Even though we can't prevent cancer, we treat the disease.
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ReplyDelete* Respondent*
ReplyDeleteI strongly agree that cancer is a highly complex disease which we only know so much about, but I will have to disagree with the idea that we can't do anything to prevent it. Yes, there are a wide variety of factors going into the development of cancer, and yes, some of them are out of our control, but we can certainly do a lot. I recently watched a documentary called Forks over Knives, which goes into findings regarding the effects of diet and nutrition on a multitude of health issues, including a number of different types of cancer. According to this documentary, the proteins found in animal meat have a significant effect on the triggering of cancer growth. They performed a study on rats in which they alternated giving animal protein and plant protein diets every few weeks, and found that they could essentially turn the cancer growth on and off by increasing the amount of animal proteins in the diet. The study also went on to suggest that while genetics may result in an increased risk of cancer, it rarely causes cancer alone. As you mentioned, cancer is complex; no single factor will cause it to develop. What is important is understanding the ways in which we can work to reduce our risks as much as possible, so that we won't need to worry about treating it.