How to help fight cancer with common sense!

in #medicine7 years ago

So reading a post about how Cancer treatment is a cash cow for pharmaceutical companies, I got to just doing some basic question asking this is called deductive reasoning based on facts or the knowledge that is known

What is cancer?

a malignant growth or tumor resulting from the division of abnormal cells.

What makes cells abnormal?

A cell is continuously receiving messages, both from its own genes and from other cells. Some tell it to grow and multiply, others tell it to stop growing and rest, or even to die. If there are enough 'grow' messages, the next stage of the cell's life starts. In a cancer cell, the messages to grow may be altered, or the messages to stop growing or to die may be missing. The cell then begins to grow uncontrollably and divide too often.

In Layman terms abnormal appears to mean the cell does not take instruction or cannot receive instruction.

How are instructions given to cells?

Nearly all your cells have a complete copy of your genes.

(A gene is a sequence of DNA or RNA which codes for a molecule that has a function. During gene expression, the DNA is first copied into RNA. The RNA can be directly functional or be the intermediate template for a protein that performs a function. )

We goin deep so stay with me ........

What is DNA?

Strands of DNA are made up of four different chemical building blocks, or bases - adenine, cytosine, thymine and guanine. These are the 'letters' of the 'digital' DNA code, usually labelled A, C, T and G. The bases are attached to a chemical backbone to make a strand of DNA. Two strands wind around each other to make a double helix, which looks like a spiral staircase. Each 'step' is a base pair: every A is paired with a T, and every C with a G)

Each gene, with a few exceptions, is the instruction for making just one particular protein. All genes are pieces of DNA - a code that sets down the order of the amino acids in a protein. Although all cells have the same genes, they only use the instructions they need, for example only a muscle cell makes muscle proteins.

Layman speak so if the instruction is not getting to cells correctly through genes its a genomic dysfunction

( I told you we going DEEP!)

The replication of DNA .

DNA replication is the process by which DNA makes a copy of itself during cell division.

The first step in DNA replication is to ‘unzip’ the double helix structure of the DNA? molecule.

This is carried out by an enzyme? called helicase which breaks the hydrogen bonds? holding the complementary? bases? of DNA together (A with T, C with G).

The separation of the two single strands of DNA creates a ‘Y’ shape called a replication ‘fork’. The two separated strands will act as templates for making the new strands of DNA.

One of the strands is oriented in the 3’ to 5’ direction (towards the replication fork), this is the leading strand?. The other strand is oriented in the 5’ to 3’ direction (away from the replication fork), this is the lagging strand?. As a result of their different orientations, the two strands are replicated differently:

The result of DNA replication is two DNA molecules consisting of one new and one old chain of nucleotides. This is why DNA replication is described as semi-conservative, half of the chain is part of the original DNA molecule, half is brand new.

Following replication the new DNA automatically winds up into a double helix.

It has been studied and known that food / environment / and physical fitness can affect your DNA.

We 20,000 leagues under the sea right now!

Can DNA be fixed once its broken?

DNA repair is a collection of processes by which a cell identifies and corrects damage to the DNA molecules that encode its genome. In human cells, both normal metabolic activities and environmental factors such as radiation can cause DNA damage, resulting in as many as 1 million individual molecular lesions per cell per day.[1] Many of these lesions cause structural damage to the DNA molecule and can alter or eliminate the cell's ability to transcribe the gene that the affected DNA encodes. Other lesions induce potentially harmful mutations in the cell's genome, which affect the survival of its daughter cells after it undergoes mitosis. As a consequence, the DNA repair process is constantly active as it responds to damage in the DNA structure. When normal repair processes fail, and when cellular apoptosis does not occur, irreparable DNA damage may occur, including double-strand breaks and DNA crosslinkages (interstrand crosslinks or ICLs).2 This can eventually lead to malignant tumors, or cancer as per the two hit hypothesis.

The rate of DNA repair is dependent on many factors, including the cell type, the age of the cell, and the extracellular environment. A cell that has accumulated a large amount of DNA damage, or one that no longer effectively repairs damage incurred to its DNA, can enter one of three possible states:

an irreversible state of dormancy, known as senescence

cell suicide, also known as apoptosis or programmed cell death

unregulated cell division, which can lead to the formation of a tumor that is cancerous

The DNA repair ability of a cell is vital to the integrity of its genome and thus to the normal functionality of that organism. Many genes that were initially shown to influence life span have turned out to be involved in DNA damage repair and protection.

People I don't think we gone make it back up for air! We are about to be drowned in knowledge!

The Physical

Simply exercise as much as you can I didn't say turn in to a young Arnold Schwarzenegger lifestyle but just move as much you can dance, walk, swim, live!

What you eat!

Science has shown that a meat-free, plant-based diet can reduce the risk of developing cancer or help conquer it when it does occur. Yay for vegans but us mere mortals need to be eating more of a plant based diet . I love BBQ Burgers Hot dogs and Sausages to but as the say everything in moderation in all things. ...

Lastly environment. Its hard to keep up these days with everything form laws, to social interaction, and life period can be flat out stressful. Watch the news you know its a everyday fight to make sure someone isn't dumping chemicals somewhere they not supposed to; be it the water we drink, the neighborhoods we live in, the air we breathe, so the battle is no just to save our body from cancer but to save our environment from causing us cancer.

I have given all green plants as food for every wild animal of the earth, every bird that flies, and to every living thing that crawls on the earth." And that is what happened [Gen 1:28]

And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. [Gen 1:29]

And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. [Gen 1:30]

Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.Gen 9:3

However, you must not eat meat with its lifeblood in it. Gen 9:4

Sort:  

Excellent writing and detailed information, I guess when you look at it, it really is kinda common sense.

Your Post Has Been Featured on @Resteemable!
Feature any Steemit post using resteemit.com!
How It Works:
1. Take Any Steemit URL
2. Erase https://
3. Type re
Get Featured Instantly – Featured Posts are voted every 2.4hrs
Join the Curation Team Here

Your Post Has Been Featured on @Resteemable!
Feature any Steemit post using resteemit.com!
How It Works:
1. Take Any Steemit URL
2. Erase https://
3. Type re
Get Featured Instantly – Featured Posts are voted every 2.4hrs
Join the Curation Team Here | Vote Resteemable for Witness