The Parable of the Cancer Cell
Imagine a healthy tissue containing thousands of cells. Each cell serves the greater good: a healthy whole body. All cells are in communication, which allows for the smooth repair and replacement of tissues and other aspects of cell behavior. Communication takes place either indirectly, via exchange of messenger compounds such as hormones and growth factors, or directly, via cell-to-cell contact. Contact allows cells to respond to the “feel” of neighboring cells, via cell adhesion molecules, and to exchange messenger molecules through cell-to-cell portals called gap junctions. With the help of proper communication, appropriate cells proliferate when new cells are needed, and when enough new cells have been produced, cell division stops. Cancer cells are the descendants of a normal cell in which something has gone wrong. In this normal cell, some kind of internal or external stress causes a mix-up in its genetic code (its DNA). This event is said to “initiate” the cell to a precancerous...