Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Cancer: The Pernicious Clonally Evolving Disease Braided in our Genome

Cancer: The Pernicious Clonally Evolving Disease Braided in our Genome

Fymat, Alain L.

Hardcover

Health GeneralMedical ReferenceZoology

ISBN10: 0228854970
ISBN13: 9780228854975
Publisher: Tellwell Talent
Published: Jun 3 2021
Pages: 334
Weight: 2.93
Height: 1.06 Width: 8.50 Depth: 11.00
Language: English

Cancer is one of the oldest diseases seen in human specimens, quite possibly the oldest, the quest for its cure having begun some 4,000 years ago. However, it was fleetingly rare, hidden by other illnesses such as cholera, dropsy, leprosy, plague, pneumonia, smallpox, and tuberculosis. As these diseases were vanquished, and as the human lifespan lengthens, cancer has emerged. Many diseases are lumped together under the denomination cancer, because they share a fundamental biological feature, namely abnormal cell growth. However, cancer is not a single disease. It is a multiplicity of diseases caused by the uncontrolled growth of a single cell unleashed by mutations. Cancer cells can grow faster, flourish more profusely, adapt better, recover more rapidly, and repair faster than normal cells. They are in effect more perfect versions of normal cells, and can even become immortal! We naively thought that cancer could be defeated by either preventing mutations from occurring in normal cells or else finding the means to eliminate the mutated cells without compromising normal growth. Unfortunately, this view did not take into account the pernicious genetic intertwining of normal and cancerous growths. Woven into our genome, the mutated genes are but distorted versions of the normal ones; they are braided together, and unbraiding them continues to be the most formidable undertaking. Fortunately, the vast majority of cancer cases are due to environmental risk factors, many of which being controllable lifestyle choices, and thus preventable. In developing cancer, individuals differ in both their inherited tendency and exposure to the environment.

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