The two views of malignancy, however, do not necessarily conflict. “It’s not as if accumulating mutations are at odds with the discernible program,” remarks Robert A. Weinberg of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, noting that the activation of developmental programs could be a downstream consequence of the mutations. Weinberg showed last year that gene activity involved in maintaining embryonic stem cell identity is a common feature of the most undifferentiated-looking and aggressive tumors. Whether that kind of evidence indicates an embryonic program driving those cancers remains to be determined, he cautions: “It’s an interesting concept, but at this stage what they talk about is highly speculative. One can ascribe all manner of human traits to cancers and speculate that it will lead one into therapeutic insights. But the devil is in the details.”

Arresting Cancer’s Development
Evidence is growing that tumor cells may grow and spread by co-opting the genetic programs normally active only during embryonic and fetal development. If true, then disrupting those programs with gene-silencing therapy could undermine a tumor’s most threatening traits. Isaac S. Kohane of the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology has organized cancers into three groups that correlate with different embryonic stages. He suggests that at the very least, drugs already known to work well on one cancer in his groupings should be tested against other cancers with the same profile. 

This story was originally published with the title "Primal Programs"

5 Comments

1. 1. herb 05:11 PM 4/30/09

   It's interesting but not surprising that the article makes no mention of Dr. Nicholas Gonzalez, who has been successfully treating cancer patients for 20 years with an approach based on Dr. Beard's work -which involves giving pancreatic enzymes to patients - enzymes that digest cancer cells. The researchers quoted in the article would do well to explore the Gonzalez /Beard model before going off into exotic approaches such as gene splicing.
   
   Gonzalez's approach can be found at www.dr-gonzalez.com

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2. 2. steveragno in reply to herb 10:53 PM 4/30/09

   Dr. Gonzalez's success treating various cancers has been nothing short of amazing. Thanks for mentioning it.

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3. 3. jyotiray 10:51 AM 5/21/09

   An interesting theory put forward by Yuri Lazebnik, that virally induced cell fusion may cause cancer may give clues to why embryonic genes get activated in cancer. Just like fusion of sperm and egg in pregnancy gives rise to developmental programs in the zygote, so may fusion of two modified somatic cells also give rise to developmental program.

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4. 4. lissad in reply to herb 03:21 PM 5/22/09

   ditto..exactly what I would've written. thanks.

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5. 5. option787 12:23 PM 6/14/09

   Cancer is simply the unfortunate side effect of Pregnancy.
   
   Our reproductive method is Parasitic in nature.
   
   We(males) "infect" our females. The fetus(parasite) has to ACTIVELY(IDO, Munn, et al.) protect itself from the mothers(host) immune system.
   
   The good news is we continue our species. The bad news is millions of Placental(proto-embryotic, unprogrammed, ready to grow) cells are released into the maternal and fetal bloodstreams. There to linger and grow into the various cancers.(usually after the childrearing years) These placentalal cells are equiped to protect themselves just like the fetus.
   
   Perhaps stimulated to grow faster by bacterial intrusion?(bacterial hCG, Hernan Acevedo, et al)
   
   Simple, me thinks.....too Beautiful to be wrong...and known for decades......
   
   

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