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It’s my understanding that cancer stems from malfunctioning of our own cell processes, rather than from something that is viral/bacterial. For that reason it s
by lps41 7y ago
It’s my understanding that cancer stems from malfunctioning of our own cell processes, rather than from something that is viral/bacterial.
For that reason it seems wrong to think about cancer as “developing” resistances - I don’t believe that cancer is something that evolves/mutates.
- lps41 7y agoTurns out I’m wrong! Cancer does undergo natir selection and develops resistance: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somatic_evolution_in_cancer#Natural_selection_in_cancer https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somatic_evolution_in_cancer#...
- nicwilson 7y agoand they can be viral in nature, see oncogenic viruses e.g. HPV (cervical cancer)
- witherk 7y agoIt's true that cancer is made of human cells but it can still evolve on it's on. Evolution applies to anything that can reproduce while making small changes between generations. Cancer cells do this better than healthy ones, at least within the time scale of a single human life. In some species cancers have even evolved to become contagious and a single tumor has spread to thousands of hosts. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canine_transmissible_venereal_tumor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canine_transmissible_venereal_...
- jmartrican 7y agoEvolving is how it became a cancer in the first place.
- krageon 7y agoI'm kind of curious why those priors led you to this conclusion, as I can't follow it at all. I understand that you have already figured out that it is wrong, but I'd like to understand what made you arrive at the wrong conclusion in the first place.