Yes, but only because a virus is made of pure genetic
material, it is made either from DNA or RNA. Certain
retroviruses (RNA viruses) can cause cancer because
they change the DNA of the host cell. They have the
same effect as random mutations or radiation: they
change the DNA and the genetic material of the cell
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retrovirus
This insight was rewarded with the Nobel Prize in 1989.
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1989 was
awarded jointly to J. Michael Bishop and Harold E. Varmus
"for their discovery of the cellular origin of retroviral oncogenes"
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1989/
This was 20 years ago, more research is under way
There is hope that we can find better treatments and more
efficient cures, although it is certainly difficult to find
out new therapies.
http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php?f=1162
Marcos is right, the crude current therapies such as radiation
or extremely toxic chemicals are not the best way to cure
the disease. One of the problems is that the industry (especially
car-, oil- and chemical industry) produces stuff like benzene,
dioxin or hexavalent chromium (VI) compounds which pollute
the environment and cause cancer. But instead of producing
less toxic substances or cars without emissions, the chemical
and pharmaceutical industries produce even more toxic drugs
which treat the symptoms in form of very toxic and very
expensive cancer drugs (many cancer drugs used for
chemotherapy are cytotoxins), see
http://blog.cas-group.net/2010/10/where-markets-fail/
And yet these cancer drugs are the best thing we have
today. But there is hope, more research is going on, for
example in Stanford's new, $200-million stem cell building.
I think we can and we will find a real cure. As said before,
in all things it is better to hope than to despair, isn't it?
-J.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Leigh Fanning" <[email protected]>
To: "The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group" <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, August 28, 2011 5:35 AM
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Cancer Research, was Steve Jobs Resigns as CEO
Cancer is a genetic disease. There is a huge amount
Not always, some cancers develop after infection by viruses.
Leigh
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============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
