General Medicine

» P_Al - Cancer as Aberrant Cell Biology

The more we learn about cancer, the greater our understanding of the mechanisms that facilitate its development. Interestingly most if not all have to do with normal cellular processes that have gone haywire.

These processes are involved in cell division, differentiation, programmed cell death etc. The problem seems to involve an inescapable flaw - the more cells age the greater the chance that they will become defective. This is inevitably a genetic aberration, which then manifests itself in abnormal cellular mechanisms.

Perhaps the process of cancerous transformation is as major an obstacle to longevity as we will meet. I have mentioned elsewhere about the evidence that aging stem cells seem to lose their capacity to replicate. The mechanisms behind this phenomenon appear to be activated by genes that protect against cancer development. This to me would represent a strong signal of this dilemma. Even our stem cells know that beyond a certain age, life is simply too risky!

-- posted by P_Al