Cells Gone Wild

Greetings all,

Today's topic is quite personal – cancers.  Many of my family members, including my dad, have succumbed to this scourge on society.  It is my disdain for these diseases that has driven my zeal to pursue my post-doctoral studies at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute’s Center for Excellence some years ago.  I dedicate this blog to my dad:  a pastor, my mentor, and my friend, who passed away on December 12, 2000 due to complications of prostate cancer.

1.  Our bodies are made up of trillions of cells that are individually ‘alive’ since they can all do what we do.  They can breathe (cellular respiration), they can eat and drink (endocytosis), they can secrete and excrete (exocytosis), etc.  Most importantly for this blog though … cells can grow and reproduce – processes collectively known as the Cell Cycle.

2.  Normally, the Cell Cycle consists of 1. Synthesis Phase:  The DNA content doubles in the cell by replication of fresh DNA; 2. Mitosis:  The DNA becomes condensed and the two pools separate as chromosomes, then the entire parent cell eventually divides into two identical daughter cells; 3.  Growth Phase:  The daughter cells relax, get bigger, stronger, more efficient and ready to undergo the high-energy Synthesis and Mitosis processes once again … thus completing the cycle.

3.  Come to think of it … isn’t that our Life Cycle too?  We grow big enough to reproduce … then we reproduce … then our children rest (don’t toddlers have nap-time, don't teenagers love to sleep?), then they grow, develop, and mature enough to reproduce … and so the cycle continues.

4.  But that’s where the analogy between the Cell Cycle and our Life Cycle must end.  In our Life Cycle, children cannot bear children … they would have to be ‘mutants’ to do so, correct?  However, cancers are the general loss of control of the Cell Cycle such that the Growth Phase is significantly shortened.  So, before the cell can rest and complete a proper ‘growth spurt’, they reproduce.  Children bearing children?  Yes ... “Cells gone wild”.

5.  Abnormal cells with mutant DNA (and proteins) that was either inherited or was caused by aging or external carcinogens (eg. cancer-causing agents in tobacco smoke and UV rays), now divide relentlessly, becoming ‘self-parasites’.  These abnormal, mutant cells now re-direct vast amounts of energy toward the Synthesis and Mitosis phases.  They are “cells gone wild” because they don’t seem to relax, grow, and mature at all … they look strange and just keep reproducing … repeatedly dividing … eventually forming a tumor (neoplasm) – an accumulation of abnormal-looking cells … that are tiny because they effective never really grow.  This is how oncologists ‘grade’ tumor biopsies, by the appearance and the size of the individual cancer cells.

6.  The high rate of energy consumption drives the mutants to either steal energy and nutrients from neighboring cells and systems or to selfishly create their own fresh, new blood vessels (neovascularization).  No wonder cancer patients rapidly decline in health and weight.  And, since any of our 200 different cell types can become cancerous, “cancers” are actually a myriad of diverse diseases (eg. lung cancer, breast cancer, colorectal cancer, and so on) all caused by a myriad of malfunctions.  This makes an overall cure very difficult to find.  And to top it all off, encapsulated, benign tumors that have not spread to other parts of the body and so can easily be removed, can, if not caught early enough, eventually rupture so that cancer cells can move and spread (by metastasis) to other parts of body becoming deadly malignant tumors as ‘satellites’ of new tumor colonies are set up and grow in various vital body systems like the blood cell-producing bone marrow (the favorite site for malignant, migrating prostate cancer cells … the cause of my dad’s passing).

7.  The Good News?  Taking into account that, as you are reading this blog, many of your trillions of cells are actively dividing and that so many things can and do go wrong, it actually surprises scientists like myself that more cancers do not exist.  Why don’t they?  Because, amazingly, our Immune System kills cancers!  Via antibodies, our defensive immune system ‘sees’ the abnormal cells as a ‘new foreign enemy’ like any other bug and the system then kicks into gear to destroy out-of-control cells before we are even aware that they exist!  We also naturally possess Tumor Necrosis Factors (TNFs) – proteins that destroy tumors!  Even our cells have been ‘fitted’ with DNA Repair Machinery – a system of quality control enzymes and proteins that travel along freshly replicated DNA during the Synthesis phase, actually removing altered DNA sequences that can lead to cancerous mutations, and simultaneously replacing them with correct sequences based on the Genetic Code!  And, believe it or not, many cancerous cells undergo Apoptosis – a kind of ‘sacrificial cell suicide’ that abnormal cells commit so that they do not become a detriment to our bodies!  I’m glad there’s no ‘Apoptosis Hotline’ in our bodies, aren’t you?

8.  Want some more Good News?  So far I’ve discussed our bodies’ internal quality control mechanisms to beat cancers.  I haven’t even started to discuss the multitude of noble and creative political, entrepreneurial, medical, nutraceutical, and scientific efforts to end these diseases, from preventing carcinogens from causing danger (eg. quit smoking campaigns and products … [Get this, RJ Reynolds Tobacco Co. just bought a ‘quit smoking’ company!  Sweet Irony?]; as well as the various drives to improve and increase use of sun block products); to chemotherapies and radiation to kill cells, including tumors; to cancer-preventive nutrition, to drugs that prevent neovascularization to 'starve' the tumors out of existence; to targeted ‘magic bullet’-type treatments, radiation, and (gene and antibody) therapies, as well as novel devices that can seed or directly target and destroy tumors within the body; to preventive genetic counseling, as well as cutting-edge bioinformatics and diagnostics to prevent the onset/prevalence of the diseases in the first place.  Case in point:  Many women now have the choice of getting live-saving prophylactic mastectomies, based on family history and the amazing accuracy of genetic and diagnostic tests for mutant BRCA1 and BRCA2 (BReast CAncer) genes which predict the occurrence of the disease.  And many cancers are being ‘cured’ by catching the tumors early via direct screenings.  For example, colorectal cancers are ~90% curable when found early enough during colonoscopies!  Scientists, including yours truly, are working hard to defeat these evil diseases from all sides:  before, during, and after they rear their ugly heads and steal our loved ones away too soon.

So, the take home message?  Let’s maintain and boost our healthy immune system!  That is, eat well (take our cancer-fighting vitamins and antioxidants), exercise (30 mins a day, 3 days a week), and decrease stress (do what you love and be at peace as often as possible).  These are the ‘not-so-secret’ secrets to a long active lifespan as suggested by The WHO – World Health Organization, not the band … smile).  Stop smoking and avoid excessive contact with (second- and third-hand) smoke.  Use sunblock during prolonged exposure to the sun.  And financially support the many cancer foundations which in turn support the many scientists who are hard at work searching for a cure or cures. 

To learn more, feel free to click on Google Ads attached to this blog and follow me on twitter (@DrNventr) as I develop my own foundation and research efforts in the future.

Thanks for reading.  Here’s to a world without cancers.  I love you Dad.

Dr. Sheldon

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