WHAT IS CANCER?

March 26, 2022

What is 'Cancer'? Some may answer uncontrolled cell proliferation. This is partially correct. However, this only captures one aspect. I consider that 'Cancer' is the disease condition of abnormal exaggerated secretion released from malignant cells and their environment. The abnormal secretions from their interactions are the causative problems, not proliferation of malignant cells. Ironically, malignant cells alone probably cannot initiate malignant phenotypes without help from normal surrounding cells. In this line, 'invasion' and 'metastasis' are not the intrinsic abilities of malignant cells rather the consequence of the interactions with the environment.

I view that malignant cells are malignant genetically and genomically from the onset of their formation. However, they need to be epigenetically matured together with their environment to gain malignant phenotypes. Formation of genetically and genomically abnormal cells alone are not sufficient for carcinogenesis.

Cancer is always originated from a single cell. Unique genetic and genomic changes only happen in a single cell. Then, the progeny of this single cell propagates in a population only by cell-division. This slowness creates the critical difficulty for acquired immunity to identify them as the cells to be eliminated even the malignant cells are immunogenic. In my view, Cancer is not the consequence of immune failure, rather it is the consequence of proper immune reactions. We are testing our unorthodox view of cancer experimentally.