4 ms·
Considering the Western diet, human evolutionary history of constant near starvation, and how chemotherapy works, isn't cellular stress a near universal weaknes
by tinglymintyfrsh 4y ago
Considering the Western diet, human evolutionary history of constant near starvation, and how chemotherapy works, isn't cellular stress a near universal weakness of most neoplasmic cells?
- 0cf8612b2e1e 4y agoI only skimmed the article, but the entire thing seemed like some fluff to make a connection between machine learning and biology research. Cancer and genetic instability has been known for a very long time (hallmarks of cancer). Many energy/maintenance pathways are impaired or outright broken in cancer cells. Despite this knowledge, effectively targeting these “weaknesses” is far from trivial. Broken pathway does not a cancer cure make.
- tinglymintyfrsh 4y agoWhich makes sense. Chemo (limiting cell division, etc.) and/or starvation are "nuclear" options which rely on healthy cells weathering stress more so than cancer cells. Targeting (essentially assumed-to-be-novel) cancer cells specifically (say oncolytic viruses, pathway-blocking molecules or antibodies) seems extremely difficult without sheer luck of prior research matching particular tissues.
- spfzero 4y agoBut they actually did effectively target them. Six out of six complete remissions.