Unraveling the Link Between Cell Damage and Cancer

Almost any form of cell or DNA damage, including chemicals, radiation, and viruses, can cause cancer, but it can only cause cancer under very specific conditions. Two conditions must be met at the same time: sublethal and chronic.

Cell damage may lead to cancer

In order to cause cancer, the cells cannot be damaged too much or too little. Excessive damage will only kill all the cells and have no chance of causing cancer. Therefore, dead people do not get cancer.

However, too little cellular damage only needs to be repaired by normal DNA repair mechanisms. The immune system will track down the occasional cancer cell and everything will return to normal; while the cancerous growth lies within, like a person who has just missed the train, for a person Too late, too early for the next one.

In this gray zone between life and death, damaged cells try to survive, but the normal structures that ensure cooperation no longer function. Cancer is born in this struggle for survival.

Chronic cell damage may cause cancer

Chronicity is the second key characteristic of carcinogens. Compared with chronic low-dose radiation, a single high-dose radiation is far less carcinogenic than the latter, and the radiation fallout caused by the Japanese atomic bomb explosion produced far fewer cancers than originally expected.

The carcinogenic effect of a single heavy dose of smoking is also far less than that of chronic smoking; the hepatitis A virus that causes a single heavy dose of liver damage is less likely to cause chronic low-dose liver damage than the hepatitis B or C viruses that cause chronic low-dose liver damage. Causes liver cancer; a single severe stomach infection does not cause cancer, but chronic low-dose infection with Helicobacter pylori does.

Cancer is a “wound that doesn’t heal”

Chronic sublethal injury activates cell repair mechanisms and stimulates cell renewal and division. The only major difference between wound healing and cancer is that cell growth eventually stops when a wound heals; this is not the case with cancer. This apparent similarity has led some researchers to refer to cancer as a “wound that doesn’t heal.”

Certain cellular properties, such as growth and immortality, are highly advantageous during wound healing. Genetic mutations in oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes, such as myc, PTEN and src, allow increased growth and replication (immortality) and are very beneficial in chronic wound healing and therefore accumulate slowly.

This may form early malignant lesions such as colorectal polyps or dysplasia in cervical cancer. Chronic, sublethal injury provides the temporal and sustained selective pressure required for cancer transformation.

Carcinogenesis is an evolutionary process and therefore takes time. A single acute injury cannot exert continuous selective pressure to cause cancer; it is long-term chemical exposure, long-term radiation exposure, or long-term infection that causes cancer.

Cancer also does not tend to be an all-or-nothing situation; when the selective pressure for growth and replication is removed, cancer risk also decreases. For example, quitting smoking can reduce the excess risk of lung cancer by nearly 75% after 20 years.

Read more: This habit triples pneumonia deaths! 1 trick to reverse damaged lungs and restore lung function

Chronic sublethal cell damage ultimately leads to cancer

Almost any chronic, subfatal injury can lead to cancer. One of the conditions that most clearly illustrates this principle is Barrett’s esophagus, which is often caused by gastroesophageal reflux, or colloquially known as heartburn. Normally stomach acid stays in the stomach and does not flow back into the esophagus. The lining is designed to withstand the strong acid produced, but the cells lining the esophagus are not.

When gastric acid flows upward, it damages the lining of the esophagus, causing burning pain in the chest. In response, the cells lining the esophagus change to become closer to the lining of the stomach and intestines, a process called metaplasia.

Barrett’s esophagus is often considered a precursor to cancer and has been increasing in recent decades, with the annual incidence of conversion to esophageal cancer being approximately 0.3%, approximately 5 times higher than normal, gastroesophageal reflux and Barrett’s esophagus The most important risk factor for Terres esophagus is obesity.

Read more: No smoking or drinking, esophageal cancer was discovered in the first gastroscopy!The “salmon spots” covering his esophagus were actually caused by 1 condition

In this case, the carcinogen is stomach acid, which is a completely normal substance, but in the right place. Stomach acid is OK in the stomach, stomach acid is bad in the esophagus because of chronic sublethal cell damage, ultimately leading to cancer.

All known carcinogens, such as smoke, asbestos, soot, radiation, Helicobacter pylori and viruses, are chronic sublethal irritants.

See more: 3 peanut powders found to be carcinogens! How to store nuts?This will make it less likely to get damp and moldy

◎ This article is excerpted from “Cancer Secrets: Cancer is not only a seed problem, but also a soil problem. The interaction between cell mutations and the environment is the key to causing malignant tumors! 》Jason.Square
◎ Image source/provided by Dazhi Image/shutterstock

→Don’t miss out on health information!Click me to join【Health 2.0 LINE Friends】【FB fan page】【Download APP】

2023-10-02 06:54:00

#terrifying #cancers #Uncovering #cancer #keys #turning #cells #cancer #Asbestos #Radiation #Helicobacter #pylori #Health