5 ms·
Are cancer cells immortal? It would be very poetic that the key to cancer would also unlock amortality.
by clipjokingly 5y ago
Are cancer cells immortal? It would be very poetic that the key to cancer would also unlock amortality.
- akiselev 5y agoThey're immortal in the sense that they no longer listen to tumor suppression genes that trigger apoptosis (programmed cell death). Based on our current understanding of senescence, that doesn't really help with the main causes of aging.
- tg180 5y agoWhy? The presence of telomerase prevents telomere shortening in cancer cells and gives the ability to divide an unlimited number of times in a laboratory cell culture plate. But the aging process is not reversed, so a multicellular complex organism would eventually die.
- emmelaich 5y agoThe cells of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henrietta_Lacks https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henrietta_Lacks are immortal.