Hah! We got a LIVE one! Thanks very much for your knowledgeable comments!
In article <pxpst2-1406991111390001 at pelli.pathology.pitt.edu>,
Peter <pxpst2 at vms.cis.pitt.edu> wrote:
>>...
>>I think it is important at this point to define what makes a cell
>cancerous. A cancer cell is a cell who has mutated genomic DNA. In order
>for the cancer to destroy the organism, it must learn many new tricks. It
>must learn how to live move, it must learn how to eat through basement
>membranes, it must learn how to induce vasculatature, it must learn how to
>move into the vasculature, it must learn how to survive in the blood, it
>must learn how to get out of the vasculature and finally it must learn how
>to live and grow in another site. All in all many genes need to be hit
>genetically as to allow their in appropriate expression. I hope you are
>realizing that cancer is a difficult thing to completly understand and it
>is a very complex process. I do not believe that any one " magic bullet"
>exists to cure all cancers. Most advanced cancers have very screwed up
>DNA. If you looked at the chromasomes, you would see many breaks and
>repairs and chromasome pieces may be located in inapropriate locations.
>This is all very cursory explination, if you want more info, I would be
>happy to direct to it.
>
I find your description of the cancerous cell very interesting. It
reinforces my impression that cancer is not the result of randomly-
altered genes, but is rather the result of purposeful manipulation
of genes by some "purposeful" organism.
As one with a certain level of knowledge of "combinatorics", or the
art of mathematically counting complex things (and often using this
to estimate probabilities or expected frequencies of occurrence), I
find it very difficult to imagine how all the necessary FUNCTIONAL
mutations to explain what you just described could have happened
by chance in anything LIKE the current age of the universe.
As you probably know, there is a small minority of researchers in
the cancer research community who assert that there IS a cancer
organism which they can isolate from any cancer cell and show you
if you will only look. (Dr. Virginia Livingston-Wheeler was one of
the better known.)
Your description certainly sounds like the "trail" left by a
purposeful organism, not chance alone!
Thanks also for all the other detailed comments. It is going to take
awhile for me to digest all the new information, which I very much
appreciate.
-John S.
