\r\n \r\n UC Berkeley molecular biologist Peter Duesberg has long believed that cancer results from chromosome disruption rather than a handful of gene mutations, which is the dominant theory today. That idea has led him to propose that cancers have actually evolved new chromosomal karyotypes that qualify them as autonomous species, akin to parasites and much different from their human hosts.
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\nhttps://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2011/...olved-species/
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\n[excerpts]
\nDuesberg asserts that cancers are new species because those viable enough to continue dividing develop relatively stable chromosome patterns, called karyotypes, distinct from the chromosome pattern of their human host. While all known organisms today have stable karyotypes, with all cells containing precisely two or four copies of each chromosome, cancers exhibit a more flexible and unpredictable karyotype, including not only intact chromosomes from the host, but also partial, truncated and mere stumps of chromosomes.
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\n�Cancer has become a successful parasite,� Vincent said.
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\n�Cancer is comparable to a bacterial level of complexity, but still autonomous, that is, it doesn�t depend on other cells for survival; it doesn�t follow orders like other cells in the body, and it can grow where, when and how it likes,� said Duesberg. �That�s what species are all about.�
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\nIn addition, because the disrupted chromosomes of newly evolved cancers are visible in a microscope, it may be possible to detect cancers earlier, much as today�s Pap smear relies on changes in the shapes of cervical cells as an indication of chromosomal problems that could lead to cervical cancer.
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\n�I think Duesberg is correct by criticizing mutation theory, which sustains a billion-dollar drug industry focused on blocking these mutations,� said Vincent, a medical oncologist. �Yet very, very few cancers have been cured by targeted drug therapy, and even if a drug helps a patient survive six or nine more months, cancer cells often find a way around it.�\r\n

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\n- Jim
\nLife is just one damned thing after another - Elbert Hubbard
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