Fark cancer.

I lost my sister to ovarian cancer. She was 26.

F**k you cancer and f**k you ovarian cancer in particular. Here's hoping we beat that bloody thing this generation.

Biologists have a word for what is happening here: Evolution.


Indeed this basically mutation followed by selection over and over again. This is not the first time that this has been noted in cancer either though I don't have a reference on the top of my head.

Of course evolution by natural selection is extremely short sighted. It helps the cancer survive in the short term though eventually it will kill the person with cancer and obviously that will kill the cancer as well (unless samples are taken, for example HeLa cells).

TheMysteriousStranger: Biologists have a word for what is happening here: Evolution.


Indeed this basically mutation followed by selection over and over again. This is not the first time that this has been noted in cancer either though I don't have a reference on the top of my head.

Of course evolution by natural selection is extremely short sighted. It helps the cancer survive in the short term though eventually it will kill the person with cancer and obviously that will kill the cancer as well (unless samples are taken, for example HeLa cells).

Evolution with cancerous tumours is something that has been talked about for decades. Early stage you get things like host-immunity escape mutations that allow for growth and metastisis. During and after treatment you get resistance mutations that pop up. Now that genome sequencing is getting cheaper they are starting to do massive population genetics inspired data analyses in various cancer lines and patients.

There are literally thousands, if not tens of thousands, of references studying cancer with an evolutionary perspective.

My wife had Ovarian cancer and it does suck. It was over a year of chemo and 2 surgeries. She is 3 years Cancer-free now.

While undergoing Chemo, I made her a shirt that said, "Yes, I'm Bald. Please Stare at my Boobs!" She wore it all the time.

I made a second one that said, "The carpet matches the drapes. Hardwood."

/I don't know why she didn't wear that one out of the house.....

ChiliCon: My wife had Ovarian cancer and it does suck. It was over a year of chemo and 2 surgeries. She is 3 years Cancer-free now.

While undergoing Chemo, I made her a shirt that said, "Yes, I'm Bald. Please Stare at my Boobs!" She wore it all the time.

I made a second one that said, "The carpet matches the drapes. Hardwood."

/I don't know why she didn't wear that one out of the house.....

Ha, I like the cut of your jib :)

Nobody in my family dies of cancer, as far as I can tell. Not ancestors, siblings, aunts & uncles, or even first cousins. Only cancer I know happened was ovarian cancer, decades ago, treated and did not recur. It would be interesting to know why, or if we are just lucky.

SwiftFox: Nobody in my family dies of cancer, as far as I can tell. Not ancestors, siblings, aunts & uncles, or even first cousins. Only cancer I know happened was ovarian cancer, decades ago, treated and did not recur. It would be interesting to know why, or if we are just lucky.

I may regret asking this but how do they all die? Bizarre accidents, old age, murder, death by snu snu, drumming for spinal tap, suicide, or what?

Hacker_X: SwiftFox: Nobody in my family dies of cancer, as far as I can tell. Not ancestors, siblings, aunts & uncles, or even first cousins. Only cancer I know happened was ovarian cancer, decades ago, treated and did not recur. It would be interesting to know why, or if we are just lucky.

I may regret asking this but how do they all die? Bizarre accidents, old age, murder, death by snu snu, drumming for spinal tap, suicide, or what?

Well, Grandpa Freeble with the two heads got into such an argument with himself that one of his heads shot the other between the eyes. Grandma Henweigh died in a sequence of events that began when she swallowed a fly

If there is supposed to be something witty about the headline's "Not sure if serious" comment, I don't see it. The article seems pretty straightforward and unsurprising to me.

Kinek: I'm not a molecular biologist, but the evolution of cancers would be more isolated than say....a bacteria, or viral particles? Since cancer is (generally) a failure in one individuals body, and generally not transferrable, each body is a microcosm of evolution. Is that about right?

Yeah pretty much. Obviously a lot of cancers start with the same basic mutations (but of course different genetic backgrounds as those vary from individual to individual) and certain types of mutations that occur down the line you tend to see recur in a similar fashion fairly frequently, but that is just because its a stats game at a certain point. We only have so many genes that can break and in so many different ways after all. But yeah each case is in essence a different population undergoing evolution in its own little system (your body). Its pretty fascinating from a genomics/evolution point of view, which is my background.

I don't currently work on cancer genomics though, although there may be a few projects coming down the pipe.

Kinek: I'm not a molecular biologist, but the evolution of cancers would be more isolated than say....a bacteria, or viral particles? Since cancer is (generally) a failure in one individuals body, and generally not transferrable, each body is a microcosm of evolution. Is that about right?

It is a population undergoing genetic changes. Yep, that is evolution.

That the population is of cancer cells rather than humans is besides the point. Yeah that evolution will probably end very soon, but again that does not change what it is.

In dogs and in Tasmanian devils there evolved a contagious cancer. In both cases a cancer cell happened to get the right mutation to allow it to get transferred to another individual who catches the cancer. So on really rare occasions, the cancer can outlive its owner and become a species in and of itself.