/sci/ - Science & Math

[Anonymous No.10484401]

Can someone explain cancer to me?

Why would cancer keep growing when it will kill the host and thus its support system? Seems like a suicidal drive, which contradicts basic evolutionary biology.

[Anonymous No.10484402]

>>10484401
Why you gotta rain on cancer's parade man, it's just tryna have some fun!
All of this is explained in economics 101.

[Anonymous No.10484414]

Cancer isn't a unique organism as much as it is abnormal cell behavior ergo it being "suicidal" is irrelevant

[Anonymous No.10484454]

>>10484401
>Seems like a suicidal drive, which contradicts basic evolutionary biology.

Look at it on a larger scale -- organisms that have a higher incidence of mutation might be able to evolve more nimbly to cope with changing conditions, or better exploit a niche. The down side of that might be an increased likelihood of dying of cancer.

But cancer tends to kill you after you have a chance to get out there, find a mate, enjoy promiscuous sex, sire many offspring... and pass on your genes. Cancer tends to kill off organisms later in life; something that kills you after you reproduce yourself can be evolutionarily irrelevant.

[Anonymous No.10484480]

>>10484401
Cancer is not one thing or disease it is any number of errors that cause cells to run wild and act in a way they shouldn't. The reason it is prevalent is the same reason you heal when you get wounded. And the same reason you don't run out of blood. The cells in your body are constantly dying and replicating.

[Anonymous No.10484490]

>>10484401
Evolution is not teleological. Cancer cells don't know they're going to kill the host. Or to put it another way, the only sense in which any cells "know" not to kill the host is in the very biochemical mechanisms that result in cancer when they break down.

[Anonymous No.10484507]

>>10484414
>>10484401
Cancer only makes sense once you dispel the notion that it is not "random" nor deranged cell behavior, but a result of a body unable to complete the inflammatory cycle of healing due to impaired metabolism.

[Anonymous No.10484557]

good luck having stem cell niches without a built-in capability for infinite duplication

[Anonymous No.10484836]

>>10484507
You're retarded. Tumor cells utilize pathways to circumvent apoptosis. It's not just "muh inflammatory cycle HUUUUUURRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEGGGGGUUUUUUURRRRRRRRMMMMMMGGFFFFFFFFFFFFPPPPLLLLLLLPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPFFFFFFFFFMMMMMMMMMMMMM". Retard.

"The apoptotic signals are complicated and they are regulated at several levels. The signals of carcinogenesis modulate the central control points of the apoptotic pathways, including inhibitor of apoptosis (IAP) proteins and FLICE-inhibitory protein (c-FLIP). The tumor cells may use some of several molecular mechanisms to suppress apoptosis and acquire resistance to apoptotic agents"

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4075070/

[Anonymous No.10485436]

>>10484401
because leukocytes are blind as moles and sometimes someone just has some bad luck with them weeding out the malfunctioning cells.

[Anonymous No.10485437]

>>10484401
cancer is not some kind of parasite to have a vested interest in keeping the host alive. It's just a cell malfunction that went out of control.

[Anonymous No.10485444]

>>10484507
Or it makes complete sense as he said without your drivel. It takes a hell of a lot of fine mechanisms for each cell in your body to work as it does. This fails all the time and most of the time this results in cell death. However when the fault is in cell replication, apoptosis or other growth functions the cell will just keep replicating.

Most of the time your body can deal with that and kill it but again: you have a lot of cells and a lot to go wrong. Sometimes mutations also occur that help the cancerous cell evade response or the body is compromised in other ways and a full fledged cancer develops.

[Anonymous No.10486084]

>>10485436
that`s my new favourite explanation of leukocites

[Anonymous No.10486093]

>>10484414
It isn't unique. It is stupid. In that it doesn't even know what it is or care anymore. It was a red blood cell, it had a purpose, now it is so muddled that all it knows is chaos. Messy. Replicate. Mess up. Repeat. Not evil. Just incredibly retarded. To know evil, see; parasites.

[Anonymous No.10486132]

>>10484401
Because it's a miniature extraterrestrial invasion. Aliens sent down micro-organisms to attack and invade the human race. Aliens believe the human race is a disease like cancer so they decided to send us all an ironic message only the brightest can understand.

[Anonymous No.10486138]

>>10486093
Not to shit on your point but RBCs cant become cancerous after theyve been produced. they have no nucleus/dna. any blasts that form prior to the nucleus beign removed arent really RBCs.

[Anonymous No.10486238]

>>10484401
>Why would cancer keep growing when it will kill the host

>cancer
>implying it has an end goal or 'conciousness'

It is like fire - it'll keep going until whatever is feeding it stops.

[Anonymous No.10486264]

Non scifag here
My understanding was that cancer is wat happens when cells stop dying
In this case you could say the cells are trying to act in what they "think" is their own self interest

[Anonymous No.10486278]

>>10486264
Basically if a cell has no control over how often it divides and replicates becomes a cancerous cell. Normally the body will kill the cell by killing it or telling it to off itself. If that fails and the cancerous cell population doesnt die then it will continue to grow and cause serious problems for the body.

[Anonymous No.10486285]

>>10484401
Cancer is acting Inshallah to punish heretics and whores not wearing their burka

[Anonymous No.10486414]

>>10486285
Can we please nuke the middle east now? There's nothing but dry deserted areas and mentally unstable mammals there because of all the heat.

[Autolycus No.10486529]

Cancer is caused by the sub-Logos' mechanisms remaining unused. The catalysts which offer us objects of experience fail in design when no path is chosen, the individual proceeding until it strikes them.and engenders their space/time with a bias towards either acceptance or separation and control.