Cancer sneakier than scientists suspected

[Celebration]

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-20092929-10391704.html

Cancer may be a lot more devious than researchers have realized. That's the word from a New York Times report that points to new cancer-contributing factors that may one day change how the disease is researched and treated.

For more than a decade, researchers were guided by principles outlined in a 2000 paper in the journal, Cell, called "The Hallmarks of Cancer." That paper detailed how a single cell evolved into a malignant tumor through a series of mutations that essentially allowed cancer to spread in a free-for-all to nearby tissue.

But new research may give some scientists pause. First, it was thought that only 2 percent of the entire human genome harbored cancer-causing genes. Now researchers think there are oncogenes lurking within the other 98 percent of the DNA which has long been considered "junk DNA."

That's not all. Scientists have also discovered that most of the protein-coding cells, the cogs of cancer, are tiny microorganisms living in the body that may be involved with colon, stomach, and esophagus cancers. The last of these theories pings microRNA as the culprit. Thought to be insignificant in the DNA-coding process, microRNA may sneakily mess with DNA coded for a healthy cell by intercepting and changing it entirely, tricking the cell it into turning cancerous.

[KT2000]

1. Always wondered about

the concept of "junk DNA." Would not think there was such a thing.

[Schema Thing]

3. why not? Scientist would think there should be such a thing.

[bemildred]

2. We have only the foggiest idea what is going on with both genetics and cancer.

Which are intimately related. Humility will serve us better than delusions of expertise.

[tcaudilllg]

4. "The world is indeed flat. --NO WAIT!"

Pay attention to a person's politics BEFORE you buy into any original assertions by them. If they aren't left-leaning, expect that they will be proven wrong.