[note: contains adult discussions of sexual matters which some non-biologists may find offensive]
St. Peregrinus is the patron saint of those suffering from cancer but his connection to this blog goes deeper than that, and it's something that I've been meaning to write about. if the CRF Theory demands a loss of communication between cells as the initiator of cancer, what role would physical factors play? I've refrained from discussing this because the evidence is very anecdotal. But let's start with the saint. In penance for his actions, he spent 30 years preferring standing to sitting, and he ended up with varicosities of the leg and, eventually, cancer of the foot which was so bad that an amputation was scheduled*
The caveat that makes cancer etiology so difficult is that rarely does a single factor produce cancer for even when a single factor has a causal relationship, there are some who do not succumb to it. Multiple factors enter into the equation--the patient has a mutated gene or unbalanced pathways or suboptimal immunology, or additional initiators like toxins, viruses, and radiation. My concern here in this discussion is that physical injury might be a primary factor. There is more than ample evidence indicating that inflammation may be a sort of all encompassing umbrella or commonality for the other causes.
I have no reason to doubt the expertise of the doctors of the 13th century in diagnosing cancer of the foot, and I do not doubt that standing for 30 years could produce cancer. Chronic inflammatory conditions are clearly associated with cancer and many of us can attest to the effect that prolonged standing over the course of a day can have on our feet with aches and edema being all too common.
However, let us go beyond this unusual cancer and consider other cancers and their possible association with repeated physical injury. Breast cancer. Is it due to rough sex, or ill-fitting bras, or repeated bruising? What about bone or brain or blood cancers in children? Is it a coincidence that children are so active, fragile, and awkward--conditions that enable repeated injuries? Cancers of the neck--are they associated with the chronic neck pains from inadequate support?** Is throat cancer with or without smoking/drinking factors, associated with long-term fellatio?*** If these observations have any validity, this must be considered.
Is pancreatic cancer tied in in any way with physical injuries? I seem to recall that--disproportionately, I believe--this malady has taken the lives of people who live a very active life: stunt men, dancers, etc. Why the pancreas? Consider that it is in an area subject to compressive forces from the ribcage and contains enzymes that will wreak havoc with its cells [including cell-to-cell communication] should they get outside its ducts.
Is prostate cancer associated with prolonged sitting and/or repeated constipation? Similarly, can testicular cancer be caused by too much bicycling or sports-related injuries? Bicycling, even extensively, as been cleared in the last retrospective studies that I've read; however, recall that cancer has multiple and synergistic causes. In other words, first we have to determine all possible causes and then control for all causes--if there exists cause A, B, and C, then, in proving A, you have to have controls with B and C in effect. The bottom line is that, with cancer causation, the jury is always out in our lifetime--except for those cancers with a known single major cause like homozygous retinoblastoma. Add to that the long-term incubation and you realize that we are lucky to have been able to form definitive conclusions like that of smoking and lung cancer. Isn't it also interesting that two of the most confirmed causes are associated with the most easily injured of all organs? [I suspect this may have something to do with the fact that lung tissue must stretch to fulfil its function]
Mesothelioma is the result of chronic long-term physical trauma inflicted by inhaled asbestos needles.
An interesting and perhaps possible corollary is that areas of the body subjected to repeated and sometimes extensive physical trauma over a lifetime are often less likely to develop cancer. I'm referring here to the hands, the elbows, knees, the skull, the anal sphincter (with or w/o anal sex), the penis/vagina, the nose, ears, the mouth areas, and yes the foot. Has the body endowed these areas with some means of avoiding cancer? It may be accomplished through the use of unique ECM substances or configuration.
What of those cancers that should be arising because of repeated injuries but don't? Why doesn't an arthritic joint develop cancer? It may be for the same reasons given above but, additionally, these conditions also have man's help in the form of anti-inflammatory agents like NSAIDS which are associated with a decreased incidence of colon cancer. At this point, we can't say that in the absence of anti-inflammatories, more cases of cancer of the joints would have arisen because unlike other injuries that we've been considering, joint damage from osteoarthritis starts late in life thereby minimizing prolonged injury to the tissues.
I may be remiss if I do not speculate on how physical injury fits in with the CRF theory. You injure a tissue repeatedly, and with each insult, the cells undergo EMT. One of those times, however, the cells have mutated or they encounter some other hindrance to implementing the reversing program (MET) and tumorigenesis ensues.
Finally, I mentioned my thoughts arose from anecdotal evidence but that's not entirely correct as wound healing [the consequence of physical trauma] has innumerable studies showing many phenomena in common with tumorigenicity: Epithelial Mesenchymal Transition; PDGF, TGF-beta, and VEGF release; matrix metalloproteinases; immune cell attractors; and angiogenesis.
*Fortunately, he was able to drag himself to the nearest crucifix and prayed for, and got, a miracle--a complete cure of his affliction.
**I highly recommend the buckwheat pillow. The "fluffing" requires a little skill but when you place your head on that pillow at a given height, it stays at that height the whole night long. I no longer experience the neck pains I used to have.
***The physical trauma of fellatio may have an additional caveat to those who practice this extensively; sperm have little enzymatic packets at their "noses" and we have to wonder if they damage throat tissue if, in fact, they release the contents in the environment of the throat.
St. Peregrinus is the patron saint of those suffering from cancer but his connection to this blog goes deeper than that, and it's something that I've been meaning to write about. if the CRF Theory demands a loss of communication between cells as the initiator of cancer, what role would physical factors play? I've refrained from discussing this because the evidence is very anecdotal. But let's start with the saint. In penance for his actions, he spent 30 years preferring standing to sitting, and he ended up with varicosities of the leg and, eventually, cancer of the foot which was so bad that an amputation was scheduled*
The caveat that makes cancer etiology so difficult is that rarely does a single factor produce cancer for even when a single factor has a causal relationship, there are some who do not succumb to it. Multiple factors enter into the equation--the patient has a mutated gene or unbalanced pathways or suboptimal immunology, or additional initiators like toxins, viruses, and radiation. My concern here in this discussion is that physical injury might be a primary factor. There is more than ample evidence indicating that inflammation may be a sort of all encompassing umbrella or commonality for the other causes.
However, let us go beyond this unusual cancer and consider other cancers and their possible association with repeated physical injury. Breast cancer. Is it due to rough sex, or ill-fitting bras, or repeated bruising? What about bone or brain or blood cancers in children? Is it a coincidence that children are so active, fragile, and awkward--conditions that enable repeated injuries? Cancers of the neck--are they associated with the chronic neck pains from inadequate support?** Is throat cancer with or without smoking/drinking factors, associated with long-term fellatio?*** If these observations have any validity, this must be considered.
Is pancreatic cancer tied in in any way with physical injuries? I seem to recall that--disproportionately, I believe--this malady has taken the lives of people who live a very active life: stunt men, dancers, etc. Why the pancreas? Consider that it is in an area subject to compressive forces from the ribcage and contains enzymes that will wreak havoc with its cells [including cell-to-cell communication] should they get outside its ducts.
Is prostate cancer associated with prolonged sitting and/or repeated constipation? Similarly, can testicular cancer be caused by too much bicycling or sports-related injuries? Bicycling, even extensively, as been cleared in the last retrospective studies that I've read; however, recall that cancer has multiple and synergistic causes. In other words, first we have to determine all possible causes and then control for all causes--if there exists cause A, B, and C, then, in proving A, you have to have controls with B and C in effect. The bottom line is that, with cancer causation, the jury is always out in our lifetime--except for those cancers with a known single major cause like homozygous retinoblastoma. Add to that the long-term incubation and you realize that we are lucky to have been able to form definitive conclusions like that of smoking and lung cancer. Isn't it also interesting that two of the most confirmed causes are associated with the most easily injured of all organs? [I suspect this may have something to do with the fact that lung tissue must stretch to fulfil its function]
Mesothelioma is the result of chronic long-term physical trauma inflicted by inhaled asbestos needles.
An interesting and perhaps possible corollary is that areas of the body subjected to repeated and sometimes extensive physical trauma over a lifetime are often less likely to develop cancer. I'm referring here to the hands, the elbows, knees, the skull, the anal sphincter (with or w/o anal sex), the penis/vagina, the nose, ears, the mouth areas, and yes the foot. Has the body endowed these areas with some means of avoiding cancer? It may be accomplished through the use of unique ECM substances or configuration.
What of those cancers that should be arising because of repeated injuries but don't? Why doesn't an arthritic joint develop cancer? It may be for the same reasons given above but, additionally, these conditions also have man's help in the form of anti-inflammatory agents like NSAIDS which are associated with a decreased incidence of colon cancer. At this point, we can't say that in the absence of anti-inflammatories, more cases of cancer of the joints would have arisen because unlike other injuries that we've been considering, joint damage from osteoarthritis starts late in life thereby minimizing prolonged injury to the tissues.
I may be remiss if I do not speculate on how physical injury fits in with the CRF theory. You injure a tissue repeatedly, and with each insult, the cells undergo EMT. One of those times, however, the cells have mutated or they encounter some other hindrance to implementing the reversing program (MET) and tumorigenesis ensues.
Finally, I mentioned my thoughts arose from anecdotal evidence but that's not entirely correct as wound healing [the consequence of physical trauma] has innumerable studies showing many phenomena in common with tumorigenicity: Epithelial Mesenchymal Transition; PDGF, TGF-beta, and VEGF release; matrix metalloproteinases; immune cell attractors; and angiogenesis.
*Fortunately, he was able to drag himself to the nearest crucifix and prayed for, and got, a miracle--a complete cure of his affliction.
**I highly recommend the buckwheat pillow. The "fluffing" requires a little skill but when you place your head on that pillow at a given height, it stays at that height the whole night long. I no longer experience the neck pains I used to have.
***The physical trauma of fellatio may have an additional caveat to those who practice this extensively; sperm have little enzymatic packets at their "noses" and we have to wonder if they damage throat tissue if, in fact, they release the contents in the environment of the throat.
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