The Evolutionary Biology Of Cancer

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So picture yourself, your mother or father has just undergone cancer treatment and now you are afraid that the disease could be passed down to you. Now picture yourself in the alternative knowing that the disease can be based down to you and your offspring and there are effective treatments in place. These are the studies that are being done in evolutionary biology of cancer and scientists are making great progress. Ecology and Evolutionary Biologists claim that natural selection has a factor in the genetics of cancer. The theory of evolution, Darwinism, explains the idea that species by natural selection advance and others do not. To explain further an organism’s ability to survive, reproduce and pass their genes down to their offspring has to do with natural selection.3 This all cumulates into one must know their past to understand their future.

First before understanding why evolutionary biology is so important to the treatment of cancer one must know more about the disease at hand. Cancer is the disease that is caused by an uncontrolled division of abnormal cells in the body. Cancer is a disease that can either enter the body environmentally, intake of a harmful substance, or genetically. One of the causes of cancer is environmental, meaning that factors of one’s environment, such as sunlight, could affect one’s body negatively. Also substances that someone puts in their bodies, such as tobacco or alcohol could cause cancer, meaning intake of harmful substance can also affect the body negatively. Lastly, cancer can be caused by genetics, meaning that cancer can be passed down through generations.

Though the premise of the evolutionary biology of cancer is not a new topic, there has been a rise in studies focusing on this...

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...ncer can begin to tell us evolutionary patterns and how to apply different treatment patterns that were used before.

In closing, understanding a particular cancers genetic path could someday, hopefully in the near future help physicians to help their patients in a better and more effective manner. The physician that understands the evolution of cancer has a better advantage over others in deciding a better form of recovery for their patients. With the knowledge of knowing how cancer reacts can help a physician give a better course of treatment to their patients, which will make it more effective in fighting and beating cancer. Though at the time being it is unclear of some of the points pertaining to the complexity of cancer we are walking in the right path. This essentially is why the knowledge of evolutionary biology of cancer is so important to everyday life.

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