currentsinbiology: An Unstoppable Killer: New Research Suggests...

currentsinbiology:

An Unstoppable Killer: New Research Suggests Cancer Can’t Be Eradicated

Since Richard Nixon declared war on cancer in 1971, the National Cancer Institute has poured some $90 billion into research and treatments. Yet a cure remains elusive.

A new study raises a sobering possibility: Cancer simply may be here to stay. Researchers at Kiel University, the Catholic University of Croatia and other institutions discovered that hydra — tiny, coral-like polyps that emerged hundreds of millions of years ago — form tumors similar to those found in humans. Which suggests that our cells’ ability to develop cancer is “an intrinsic property” that has evolved at least since then — way, way, way before we rallied our forces to try to tackle it, said Thomas Bosch, an evolutionary biologist at Kiel University who led the study, published in Nature Communications in June.

via Tumblr http://ift.tt/1viRmh8 August 26, 2014 at 05:50PM