Can cancer be caused by bacteria or viruses? Or is it strictly envrionmental?

There are many differen't factors involved. the desease iteslf is a mutated cell that replicates extreamly fast, causing the tumor(s). What causes this can be many thing, viral and evniormental for sure, but i'm not sure about bactrial.

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"No good can ever come from staying with normal people"
-Outlaw Star
"Some people play tennis. I erode the human soul"
-Tycho, Penny Arcade
"I'm a Cannabal-Vegitarian. I will BBQ an employee if there is no veggie option"
-DX:IW
A Knight's Tail
Exile: A Tale of Light in Dark
Scions of Light[/i]
The Never Ending Story Squared[/i]

Everyone has cancer cells in their bodies. It's when your immune system doesn't stop them from doing what they do that you get cancer. I really don't think it has anything to do with bacteria or viruses.

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Have a good one,
Freelancer

everything causes cancer

Atleast, that seems to be the theory these days. I've stopped concerning myself with it. I'm going to die of cancer one way or another, so be it.

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Clarinetists, unite!

-writer of Bloodwing: Fallen Soldier
(no site up yet...)

Yeah my moms side has history of Heart disease, and cancer, and diabetes, my dads, diabetes, and Amnesia(sp?). I am going to die a horrible death....but I won't remember that I am dying, so there is an up side.
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I’m not going to die, I’m going to see if I was ever alive. - Spike
It's not your right to decide whether they live or die. They deserve a chance! - Vash
Originally posted by Elana14: i would love a dong like that!

[This message has been edited by SAJN_Master (edited May 04, 2004).]

This isn't from a specific source, it's just my understanding:

When we're born our DNA is pretty much in perfect condition (unless we were born with a genetic defect). Our cells reproduce all the time, for the most part this reproduction goes without a hitch. Sometimes things go a little wrong (due to a number of unavoidable factors), these build up over time. This is called aging, as we get older we don't necessarily get ill we just consist of less and less "perfect" cells. Until eventually we die in our sleep or become vulnerable to some disease.

Now for cancer. We are constantly being bombarded by radioactive particles, most of it is just background radiation (naturally in our atmosphere), it tends to be a bit higher in urban areas and in our homes due to some of the materials used make buildings. But generally, background radiation shouldn't pose a huge health risk (unless you are unlucky, statistics does play a role).

If a cell happens to be bombarded as it reproduces, the DNA sequences can be put back together out of line, so effectively the code is screwed up and the cell has no purpose. The cell can still reproduce however.

The chances of this happening are VERY small with just background radiation, but there are other sources (carconogens (sp?)) which increase the chances, the damage being caused also builds up over time (hence why cancer is more common in older people).

When the cell continues to reproduce without anything telling it to stop (because it doesn't have the DNA instructions to work with) a tumor is formed. The human immune system can't help because it only recognises foreign entities such as viruses and harmful bacteria. To the human body, a cancerous cell looks perfectly normal.


I think that's just about it, it's probably poorly structured and contains some inaccuracies... but meh

Cancer cells could also contain a way to stay alive a lot longer. All cells have a strand of something, that when they reproduce, is cut in half. Eventually they cannot reproduce anymore, and start to die out. Cancer cells have a method to make more and more of this special strand, meaning they can just continue to reproduce. This is what I was told, at least. If we can figure out how to turn on that enzyme in other cells, we could live a long, long time - Which would be a bad thing, in my opinion.

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Guess what? Yep, that's right. No, no, really, it's right. Think it's wrong? You're right, it's wrong. Know why? 'Cause it is

Just studied this in history.

First major study of cancer seemed to show it was caused by viruses.

Later that was debunked.

So that might be where you heard of cancer being caused by viruses, as that is what they initially believed.

Those things are called telomeres, and are used to protect the ends of DNA strands from 'fraying'. When the telomeres get too short, the cell commits suicide, so as to not to pollute the body with the mutated cells that would result from frayed DNA, such as cancer cells. One scientist, i forget his name, actually managed to get a cell culture to ignore this suicide order, but the cancer rates shot through the roof when he did it.

This suicide order is anouther reason for ageing. Along with the defects in reproduction that Det mentioned, as we age, the overall length of the telomeres in our system gets shorter, and as such mroe and more cells suicide, thus the deterioration of age.

And yah, i know alot about them. Planning to go into biochemistry.

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"No good can ever come from staying with normal people"
-Outlaw Star
"Some people play tennis. I erode the human soul"
-Tycho, Penny Arcade
"I'm a Cannabal-Vegitarian. I will BBQ an employee if there is no veggie option"
-DX:IW
A Knight's Tail
Exile: A Tale of Light in Dark
Scions of Light[/i]
The Never Ending Story Squared[/i]

so radiation, carcinogens, and other things cause cancer.

So theoretically, if someone were to isolate themselves from carcinogens, sunlight, and radiation for a long period of time, then would that person age at a slower rate?



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Old aunts used to come up to me at weddings, poking me in the ribs and cackling, telling me, "You're next." They stopped after I started doing the same thing to them at funerals.

you wont age any slower, but at least you wont get cancer... im sure just sitting here in my computer class right now is increasing my chances of cancer... but meh, what can i do?

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"Ahhhh!! I'm Burnin'! I'm Burnin!!!" - Cleaner from Max Payne 2

Yes. The human papilloma virus causes cervical cancer.

I guess the "cure to cancer" would be able to get the body to recognize rogue cells and destroy them. There are diseases that cause autoimmunity. Perhaps a cancerous cell gives off a unique enzyme that no other normal cell would produce.

Or we make nanoprobes..

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The body does already recognise rouge cells by thier odd behavior and can normally neutralize them fast enough on thier own, as those that manage to reproduce are normally sigled out by odd behavior. The problem turns into cancer when a specific mutation is eitehr able to resist or hide from the immune system, or reproduces at an incredibly fast rate, which is normally the case.

Also, as to trying to find a telltale emmision or nanoprobes are two of the biggest proposals that are being worked on at the moment.

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"No good can ever come from staying with normal people"
-Outlaw Star
"Some people play tennis. I erode the human soul"
-Tycho, Penny Arcade
"I'm a Cannabal-Vegitarian. I will BBQ an employee if there is no veggie option"
-DX:IW
A Knight's Tail
Exile: A Tale of Light in Dark
Scions of Light[/i]
The Never Ending Story Squared[/i]

Exactly. Carcinogens encompass a wide variety of things.

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Roach - Caught in the war of hemispheres.
0 of 14.

Yea, ive pretty much stopped caring to. Well all die of cancer.

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Weird Shi** Happens.
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