Cancer Biology Cliff Notes

What everyone needs to know in everyday language. Answers to the questions patients most frequently ask.

WHAT IS CANCER? THE JUVENILE DELINQUENCY OF CELLS

Submitted by Dr. Robert F. Lane on

Cancer cells are criminals created from normal cells that are injured or when a mistake is made as in the process normal cell division (called a mutation) yielding a deviant offspring. Like all criminals cancer cells are either abnormal at birth or they become abnormal in response to their environment. 

Cancer cells may look like any other normal cells just as a white-collar criminals may look normal or cancer cells may look bizarre like a knife-wielding Hells Angel – still human but dangerous...

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CANCER APPEARANCE AND SPREAD

WHY IS CANCER SPREAD SO HARD TO DETECT: BECAUSE IT IS LIKE A DANDELION

Submitted by Dr. Robert F. Lane on

Cancer spreads like dandelionsWhen you see a dandelion flower in the spring you know your lawn is in jeopardy. Within a month the flower will contract to produce a seed head followed by the opening up of a delicate puffball of seeds just waiting for a breeze to carry them all over your yard and your neighbors.

HOW FAST DO CANCERS GROW – MOST :SLOWLY

Submitted by Dr. Robert F. Lane on

A cancer mass is made up of thousands of cells, each one its own boss and searching for a place to live and a blood supply to tap into for food and oxygen. They do not cannibalize normal cells but they compete with them for essential nutrients and space. Because normal cells have polite interaction manners, the cancer cells which don’t soon invade and take over the neighborhood.

HOW DOES CANCER TREATMENT WORK?

Submitted by Dr. Robert F. Lane on

When we identify criminals in society we capture and put them in prison, execute them or rehab them. With cancer cells we do the same things: we cut them out and put them in a jar, kill them or change their behavior.  

We can kill them with toxins directly or impair cell division with drugs or radiation so that they will die when they try to divide or we can harness the immune system to slay them or all three. But the least toxic method of controlling a cancer is to rehabilitate it - change its malignant behavior.  

CRITICAL CARE of MIND & BODY I- SLEEP

Submitted by Dr. Robert F. Lane on

If you are tired, you can't fight the cancer in your life let alone the one in your body. Some fatigue is unavoidable, but much is entirely avoidable and you must go after that with a vengeance.

Fatigue is the most common side effect of treatment. Depression is the most common side effect of fatigue. Inactivity, loss of ambition and poor sleep are the most common side effects of depression. All of these in turn cause more fatigue and set up a vicious cycle downward. To avoid this you have to be proactive about sleep and exercise.

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FATIGUE
EXERCISE
SLEEP
CAFFEINE
ALCOHOL

HOW ARE CANCER SEEDLINGS DETECTED?

Submitted by Dr. Robert F. Lane on

Single cancer cells are impossible to detect even under the microscope - both because they are so small and because they look so much like normal cells most of the time. When a dozen congregate in one location like a street gang amid normal citizens you can make a diagnosis but that is contingent on having biopsied precisely in the right spot and putting the tissue under a microscope. Otherwise we must wait until they multiply enough to become a mass of a million or a billion cells - big enough to feel it or see it.