1. < Prostate Cancer
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Cancer isn't war, it's evolution.

Posted by fritzo @fritzo, Jun 15 8:58am

I do have to admit, Hans Casteels' Substack writings about Prostate Cancer are some of the most imaginative alternative thinking I've seen anywhere.

His newest post is definitely a thought provoker. Rather than saying we're at war with cancer or that patients are responsible for being heroic in their battle....or even worse, patients are at fault for their cancer, Hans says we might just be thinking about cancer in the wrong way.

Perhaps cancer is just evolution....just not evolution in a way that cares about whether it kills the host of not.

Definitely food for thought and worth a read if you want a different perspective that says, "Hey, it's not our fault."

I like his close, "“Evolution, my friends, is not progress. It is merely what survives.”
To which the patient might reasonably respond: “Fine. Then let us become very, very inconvenient to kill.”"
https://nutmegphantasy.substack.com/p/a-slightly-evocative-thought-about?

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Prostate Cancer Support Group.

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chippydoo | @chippydoo | Jun 16 5:09am

It sure feels like war with one battle after another.

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jim18 | @jim18 | Jun 16 11:19am
In reply to @readandlearn "Certain types of cancer may be genetically based, but that still wouldn't make them evolutionary. A..." + (show)
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Certain types of cancer may be genetically based, but that still wouldn't make them evolutionary. A genetic defect is evolutionary only if it affects the ability to reproduce (by death or sterilization). Since the vast majority of cancers affect one's health far beyond the age to reproduce, they are not evolutionary & don't participate in any kind of "natural selection".

By contrast, any gene that causes people to participate in risky behavior at a young age (eg, racing motorcycles), could be evolutionary. 🙂

A couple years ago I paid four (early teens) boys to do some extensive yard work for me. I thought teenage girls were chatterboxes, but these boys had them beat. They were all discussing their broken bones. I offered that I had never broken a bone in my life. One boy popped up & said, "neither have I", to which another replied, "yes, but you are 13, & he is 80."

So, I have the "cautious gene". 🙂 I suppose it affects my decision to remain on ADT & suffer side effects.

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@readandlearn A long time ago (preCambrian) cellular DNA repair mechanisms emerged that minimized mutations when the earth's had more radiation exposure. Over the eons minor mutations in these mechanisms ceased to be evolutionary relevant and many of these have accumulated and are now associated with major cancer risk such as BRACA1/2, ATM, etc.

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fritzo | @fritzo | Jun 16 12:33pm
In reply to @readandlearn "Certain types of cancer may be genetically based, but that still wouldn't make them evolutionary. A..." + (show)
Profile picture for Read & learn & live! @readandlearn

Certain types of cancer may be genetically based, but that still wouldn't make them evolutionary. A genetic defect is evolutionary only if it affects the ability to reproduce (by death or sterilization). Since the vast majority of cancers affect one's health far beyond the age to reproduce, they are not evolutionary & don't participate in any kind of "natural selection".

By contrast, any gene that causes people to participate in risky behavior at a young age (eg, racing motorcycles), could be evolutionary. 🙂

A couple years ago I paid four (early teens) boys to do some extensive yard work for me. I thought teenage girls were chatterboxes, but these boys had them beat. They were all discussing their broken bones. I offered that I had never broken a bone in my life. One boy popped up & said, "neither have I", to which another replied, "yes, but you are 13, & he is 80."

So, I have the "cautious gene". 🙂 I suppose it affects my decision to remain on ADT & suffer side effects.

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@readandlearn Risky behavior gene-maybe. I always thought it was because young people's brains aren't fully developed yet. Although, I have my moments. But, guess my brain works well enough that I'm in the no broken bones category too. Pure dumb luck in my case.

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fritzo | @fritzo | Jun 16 12:34pm
In reply to @chippydoo "It sure feels like war with one battle after another." + (show)
Profile picture for chippydoo @chippydoo

It sure feels like war with one battle after another.

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@chippydoo I'm with you. I'm in the first round of the war and I can't think in concepts of change over 1,000s of years....I need short-term victory now.

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fritzo | @fritzo | Jun 16 12:38pm
In reply to @jim18 "@readandlearn A long time ago (preCambrian) cellular DNA repair mechanisms emerged that minimized mutations when the..." + (show)
Profile picture for jim18 @jim18

@readandlearn A long time ago (preCambrian) cellular DNA repair mechanisms emerged that minimized mutations when the earth's had more radiation exposure. Over the eons minor mutations in these mechanisms ceased to be evolutionary relevant and many of these have accumulated and are now associated with major cancer risk such as BRACA1/2, ATM, etc.

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@jim18 Defense mechanisms turning into weapons. I guess if you give something 4 billion years to mutate, bad things can happen. Very interesting

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surftohealth88 | @surftohealth88 | Jun 16 6:39pm
In reply to @fritzo "Just sharing a comment from Laurel Felsenfeld on Hans' post ...."Your post echoes what I learned..." + (show)
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Just sharing a comment from Laurel Felsenfeld on Hans' post
...."Your post echoes what I learned in college in biological anthropology: cancer is what happens when the majority of humans stop dying before reproductive age. In other words cancer is the price we pay not succumbing to saber toothed tigers, famine, disease, and infections. Great book on the biology a d history of cancer diagnosis and treatment "Cancer--the Emperor of all Maladies"

I'll just share that the book she references, "The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer" is a Pulitzer Prize winner and a NY Times Top 100 book of the century. Gonna give it a read. New edition has four new chapters on latest cancer research.

It sounds like cancer has been with us as long as there has been humans. A sad legacy, but we've come a long way.

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@fritzo

Humans and all other animals too. ; )

Well, now that I think about it, plants can develop tumors also. Not the same, of course. No organs there, nor mets. Just localized tumor growth.

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surftohealth88 | @surftohealth88 | Jun 16 6:47pm
In reply to @fritzo "@readandlearn Risky behavior gene-maybe. I always thought it was because young people's brains aren't fully developed..." + (show)
Profile picture for fritzo @fritzo

@readandlearn Risky behavior gene-maybe. I always thought it was because young people's brains aren't fully developed yet. Although, I have my moments. But, guess my brain works well enough that I'm in the no broken bones category too. Pure dumb luck in my case.

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@fritzo
First broken bone here at age 59 (3 years ago) 😋 (rib).
Don't even ask, ha ha
I would just advise - never pull on anything going backward ! lol

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fritzo | @fritzo | Jun 16 9:08pm
In reply to @surftohealth88 "@fritzo First broken bone here at age 59 (3 years ago) 😋 (rib). Don't even ask,..." + (show)
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@fritzo
First broken bone here at age 59 (3 years ago) 😋 (rib).
Don't even ask, ha ha
I would just advise - never pull on anything going backward ! lol

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@surftohealth88 Rib-that makes it painful to breathe I'm told. Hope it wasn't a train or a big dog.

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jim18 | @jim18 | Jun 17 9:01am
In reply to @fritzo "@jim18 Defense mechanisms turning into weapons. I guess if you give something 4 billion years to..." + (show)
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@jim18 Defense mechanisms turning into weapons. I guess if you give something 4 billion years to mutate, bad things can happen. Very interesting

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@fritzo I do not know of any defect that is an actual weapon. They just stop working to prevent/correct mutations that occur. Another way to look at it is that a normally functioning BRCA2 prevents breast cancer in about half of women (since about half of women with defective BRCA2 get breast cancer).

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fritzo | @fritzo | Jun 17 9:37am

Wow-the complexity of human biology is something I'm guessing we have very little understanding how it all works. I know they are making progress...but suspect in the future they look back it is this time like how we think of medical care 100 years ago.

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