Put aside the multisyllabic medical terms and the convoluted ways that characteristics of cancer are communicated (ie: getting better is referred to as progression free survival; not getting worse any more). Cancer is more than just confusing and overwhelming; it is a purposeful and often duplicitous disease - intentionally hiding behind false actions. Researchers have identified 10 molecular and cellular traits (Hallmarks) that describe the progression of most cancers. Here are a few of the more insidious ones (purposefully proceeding in a gradual and subtle way, but with harmful effects):
- Cancer cells are able to evade our immune system's programmed ways for attacking disease
- Cancer cells are unaffected by our body's natural mechanisms that contain the excessive division of normal cells
- Cancer cells can divide and rampantly grow on their own without the external signals normally required to stimulate division
- Other than during embryo development, normal cells generally do not migrate. Cancer cells invade (and harm) other tissues including vital organs
- Usually, when excessive DNA damage and other abnormalities are detected, apoptosis (a type of programmed cell death) occurs in normal cells, but not in cancer cells
Taking just a few of these into consideration, it's apparent that cancer is tenacious and destructive. It's as if it has a mind of its own, an intention of evil devised to elude all of the natural ways that our body protects us from disease. Fortunately, science is increasingly cracking the code of these dirty little secrets - slowly winning the battle over cancer and its deceptive ways. Immunotherapy, also known as immuno-oncology, is a burgeoning form of cancer treatment that is harnessing the ability to use the power of the body’s own immune system to prevent, control, and eliminate cancer - basically by tricking it to death.
