Startling Discovery: Cancer Can Arise Without Genetic Mutations

[Scout4answers]

scitechdaily.com/startling-...

[6357axbz]

I don’t see why this is startling. I was tested for genetic mutations and was found to have none. Many here have reported the same.

[Derf4223]

Hardly startling. Genetic testing for cancer markers is a crude tool and only tests DNA. Nada about RNA, gene fragments, mitochondria, protein folding, etc, etc. In addition, mutations pop up all the time, and the prostate is notoriously prone to mutation.

[SeosamhM]

Thanks, Scout. The reason why this is truly startling...and it is startling, folks...is because of a solid finding that epigenetic factors can alter gene activity...not the gene itself, only the way the body reads and expresses the DNA (for a good explanation of epigenetics, please see: cdc.gov/genomics/disease/ep....

Simply put, the article confirms a that temporary "signal" to an animal cell (e.g., an infection or exposure to a toxin) that in itself does not result in permanent changes to the cell is enough to begin a sustained tumor state.

Many have long suspected that life events like illness and lifestyle indirectly contribute to cancer through systemic stress (e.g., weakening the immune system). This study indicates that these events can actually cause it!

[32Percenter]

This is conformation of something I've suspected for a while. There's some evidence showing that prostate cancer can actually be triggered by high levels of arachadonic acid in the body, for example. No cellular mutation required!

[Maxone73]

To my knowledge a genetic mutation was never required, carcinogens work pretty well on their own , as for example for all the people who used to work knee deep into asbestos powder 60 years ago in some plants in Italy. They all developed mesothelioma but they surely were not all genetically mutated.