Heterogeneity in tumors

[efsculpt]

This is a good statement on the heterogeneity of tumors.

oncotherapynetwork.com/gast...

Regards,

Craig

[Hidden]

I suppose it is ok to remember that cancer is a failure of the mitotic reproductive mechanism of cells, and so cell division may give rise to differing daughter cells. And if the difference involves something that is exploited as a target for therapy, some daughter cells will not be vulnerable. But he does at the end talk about "identifying new targets" as if he had not read his own article. Looking for new targets is going to be a long march.

And to say "heterogeneity may be one cause of resistance" is to also say it may not. It is. He should say that heterogeneity increase with time, so the default position should be to act now, while you can.

The idea of a "biography" (his quotes) of a tumor is a standard one. It is called a vogelgram.

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

The article is ok, sort of, but kind of fuzzy, I thought.

[JoelT]

We have been very aware of the heterogeneity of prostate cancer tumors for a few years.

Joel

[efsculpt in reply to JoelT]

Dear Joel:

This "we" has been aware of tumor heterogeneity for only a few months, thanks, in part, to this forum. There will be other "we"s to follow me. It is a simplified explanation that may be helpful to them.

Regards,

Craig