Cancer A New Look

John Cairns, a British molecular biologist, had pointed out in his book “Cancer, Science, and Society” that biology and cancer research have always developed together. “Invariably, at each stage,” Cairns wrote more than 40 years ago, “the characteristics of cancer cell have been ascribed to some defect in whatever branch of biology happens at the time to be fashionable and exciting; today, it is molecular genetics” (Cairns, 1978). In fact, it is amazing journey to read the theories in different time frames and resulted in observing “Cancer research is constantly developing along the mainstream of biology, while at the same time changing it. As new experimental technologies emerge and new data accumulate, it can revitalize old ideas and give them new meanings.” (Toivo Maimets 2025). And if we start from cancer as an organizational disease, then all its levels become important, from genes to the econiche, and no level is privileged (Noble and Noble, 2023). But sadly, like in all branches of knowledge we know some things and we do not know many things and little we know more hypothesis have to brought in to fill dots.

Edwin Smith’s papyrus, from about 3,000 years BC, where it was recognized that tumour is a deadly disease that has no cure. Hippocrates (ca 460-370 BC) derived the name “cancer” (καρκινος) and until the birth of cell theory, tumours were treated according to humoral theory and treated accordingly with diet, grafting and laxatives. In the XIX century, tumours were explained by cell biology and embryology, in the XX century initially by viral tumour theory, and later by mutations in the DNA (SMT, somatic mutation theory).

Cell death is essential for maintaining homeostasis. The human body contains trillions of cells, with estimates ranging from 20 to 100 trillion. These cells are the fundamental units of life, and the human body is a complex ecosystem composed of over 200 different types. These cells are organized into tissues and organs, which perform specialized functions to sustain life. They keep on regenerative process, eliminating, replacing, regrowth in routine process.

What we know a sort of death switch exists in every cell and in tumour when that death switch is activated it fails. And in every failure, there have to be reasons for failure there will a trail link of failures and resultant of failure. Take case of elephant in China(crockery) shop – questions will be

1. How did elephant reach there ---where he is not supposed to be.

2. What will elephant normally do in China shop ---is it predictable forget minor points,

3. What is the solution to avoid further losses.

   So, to understand any issues we must get an answer to three questions.

4. Why it happens ---we do not know.

5. Is behavior predictable –we do not know

6. So, what we do ---we destroy that cell with precision as much precision as we can.

   
   

   In fact, after a conference of researcher’s conclusion was term it as “bad luck”. (very practical statement) but does that meet test of knowledge –NO.

And it begs several questions.

1. Do cells get an order from some place in body when to kill itself. After all cells have to work in an organized fashion otherwise a civil war between cells will be common ---which is not true.

2. Do cells have freedom to take independent decisions and go against a central decision-making system ---becoming a rouge cell means mutiny.

3. Do cells have potential to take freak decisions and does that be seen as bout of insanity like in humans.

4. We know if cell revolts against the self-annihilation one of the tools bodies adopts is to starve the cell of nutrition but it starts stealing from neighboring cells. Why are not neighboring cells not shutting down the supplies and they turn into meek hosts to the cell.

The truth is we are trying only to see what is happening and resolve that and not try to understand basic cause of why it is happening

Can we do anything.

One we can save ourselves from lot of miseries by not becoming parasite host to lot of people who claim to cure you by their diet plans, cannibas, nutritional supplements or any snake oil connotations.

Understanding Cancer In Real Life

Cancer chemoprevention is now considered to consist of three elements: “primary prevention,” which prevents the development of tumours and prevents benign tumours converting into more malignant ones; “secondary prevention,” which aims for early detection through cancer screening and treatment, and “tertiary prevention,” which reduces the risk of recurrence and extends the time until death from cancer through treatment. Consequently, there is no clear boundary between the prevention and treatment strategies. Therefore, chemoprevention targets the entire process, from normal cells to precancerous lesions, malignant progression of tumours, and death by cancer.

Size of problem

According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), cancer is the leading cause of death in individuals aged < 85 years and the second leading cause of death worldwide after cardiovascular disease with 20 million new cases and approximately 10 million cancer deaths expected in 2022. The World Health Organization predicts that there will be more than 35 million new cancer cases by 2050. The global population aged ≥ 80 years is expected to triple from 157 million in 2022 to 459 million in 2050. An increase in the older adult population means an increase in cancer, with an estimated 2.6 million new cancer cases (13% of all cancer cases) and 2.1 million cancer deaths (21% of all cancer deaths) among the older adult population by 2022. In contrast, 7.4 million new cancer cases and 6 million cancer-related deaths are estimated by 2050, a roughly three-fold increase compared to the numbers of 2022---that means the need to focus on it.

Given that more than 90% of patients diagnosed with cancer are aged ≥ 50 years, increasing age is a risk factor. And that is no big surprise –older body gets organs get weekend and liable to get damaged.

A study that combined data from 44,788 twin pairs from Swedish, Danish, and Finnish twin registries and used statistical modelling to estimate the relative importance of heritable or environmental factors in causing cancers in 11 organs (stomach, colorectum, pancreas, lung, breast, cervix uteri, corpus uteri, ovary, prostate, bladder, and leukaemia) of twins affected by cancer. The findings revealed that heritable factors contribute approximately 20–40% to carcinogenesis, whereas environmental factors contribute 60–80%, although the contribution varies depending on the organ cancer (Paul Lichtenstein NV et.al 2020). This indicates that environmental factors are a factor to take in account.

What it means for us:

It defines a substantial danger zone ageing and hereditary probably both out of our hands.

External factors:

The most prominent carcinogens are infectious pathogens, which are estimated to account for 15–20% of all human cancers (Okada F 2014). These include one bacterium (Helicobacter pylori), seven viruses (human papillomaviruses, hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus, Epstein–Barr virus, Kaposi sarcomaassociated herpesvirus, human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1, and human immunodeficiency virus 1), and three parasites (Schistosoma haematobium, Opisthorchis viverrini, and Clonorchis sinensis) (. Each of these infectious agents causes at least one type of cancer, with some causing several types. These infectious pathogens include bacteria, viruses, and parasites as exogenous factors. However, a common factor in carcinogenesis is chronic inflammation that is endogenously induced after infection (IARC Working Group on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans. 2024).

What it means for us.

We can help here. In antibiotics world there is a serious problem of drug resistance. Essential oils are best used for controlling them.

Prevention

Lot of people sell the idea of vit A retinol, calcium, selenium, vit c etc. Sadly, there is no worthwhile research accepting the truth. (HeeKyung Seong, et.al 2025). In 2018, the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) and the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) released a report supporting updated cancer prevention recommendations. The report, “Diet, Nutrition, Physical Activity and Cancer: A Global Perspective”, sets out a series of lifestyle recommendations, including following a healthy diet, preserving a normal BMI, and committing to staying physically active. WHO in 2020 came with its do’s and do not. Since good diet, exercises, good sleep, reduced stress is any way good one can take them straight on face value in spite of fact the lot of hypotheses play a role in them.

But in world where we do not know is inflammation a symptom, ailment, or result ---we have lot of knowledge gaps and till gaps exist we can have any hypothesis.

My take

Sadly, the medicinal world does not see brain involvement in any of this. “Historically, the role of the nervous system in tumorigenesis, progression, and metastasis has been largely overlooked. However, recent advancements in cancer neurobiology have highlighted the central involvement of neural mechanisms in oncogenesis. Over the past decade, this emerging field has gained substantial traction, demonstrating that neural regulation plays a pivotal role in at least five of the eight hallmarks and two enabling characteristics of cancer. Cancer development induces local nerve remodeling, and nerve growth with secreted factors introduces novel dynamics in cancer tissue proliferation and invasion, resulting in a self-perpetuating cycle that escalates the complexity and peril of tumour progression” (Sirui Huang et.al 2025).

“Research to understand how neural signaling modulates cancer progression has focused on the sympathetic nervous system (SNS), spurred on by a desire to understand how the “fight or flight” stress response accelerates metastatic spread (Thaker et al. 2006; Sloan et al. 2010). Mechanistic studies found that SNS signaling drives tumour cell invasion through cytoskeletal changes and increased production of matrix-degrading proteases. In addition to effects on tumor cells, SNS signaling shapes the tumor microenvironment. SNS activation remodels tumor vasculature, which provides pathways of tumor cell dissemination (Thaker et al. 2006; Sloan et al. 2010; Le et al. 2016) and affects innate and adaptive immune cells by modulating their function and recruitment to tumors (Sloan et al. 2010; Qiao et al. 2021). At the Symposium, Dr Elizabeth Repasky discussed the role of SNS signaling as a driver of immunosuppression through T-cell exhaustion and increased survival and frequency of myeloid-derived suppressor cells in the tumors. It will be important to characterize SNS regulation of other tumor components, including fibroblasts and stroma. Less is known about the impact of parasympathetic and sensory nerve fibers on the tumor microenvironment. However, recent findings that sensory nerves affect the functional status and recruitment of immune cells to melanoma and head and neck cancers suggest that it will be important to understand the net effect of different neural subpopulations on the tumor microenvironment (Balood et al. 2022; McIlvried et al. 2022).” (Erica K. Sloan 2024).

“My work has demonstrated that reciprocal interactions between neurons and malignant cells are critical to overall primary and secondary tumor progression for multiple types of cancers, representing a substantial advance in the burgeoning field of cancer neuroscience. My laboratory is now evaluating bidirectional neuron-cancer interactions at the systems level to discern how malignant network dynamics influence the behavior of cancer as a whole.” (Humsa S. Venkatesh 2024).

So, if we possibly can focus on this path of understanding cancer we might get a very quick focus on preventive, containing and adjutant therapies in place.

Part 2 will explore whether common natural products especially spices, herbs, and essential oils can help in addressing this issue.

Natural products represent compounds that have been isolated from plants, animals, and other organisms. Along with their structural analogues, they have had and continue to have a relevant role in anticancer drug discovery, by offering the advantage of a fixed chemical structure with higher specificity for target proteins and protein–protein interactions (Atanasov, Zotchev, Dirsch, International Natural Product Sciences, & Supuran, 2021). Some widely used anticancer drugs originate from natural sources, and many natural products are widely used by cancer patients as part of a complementary and integrative approach to their healthcare (Frenkel et al., 2023).