Science and Inquiry discussion

Nature magazine recommends five books that were published in 2023.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d4158...

Nature also recommends How Life Works: A User’s Guide to the New Biology by Philip Ball, which was first published in November 2023. Ball says that genes do NOT provide a blueprint for life. They're a factor, of course, but it's more complicated than that. And science needs to change how it communicates that. Sounds interesting.

I'm not sure whether it's the same thing, but I went to a talk last month that questioned the "Somatic Mutation Theory" of cancer. This is the prevailing orthodoxy that cancer is caused by mutations in the DNA. The speaker said it's more complicated than that (sound familiar?). He said that some cancers, like leukemia, are almost entirely genetic, but others can be described better as a failure of communication among cells. The somatic mutation theory does not explain things like spontaneous remission or why chronic inflammation can lead to cancer. Very interesting; I am not a biologist so I did not know if this was mainstream knowledge or a fringe viewpoint. But if it's in Nature, I'd say it is probably mainstream or getting there.

Dana wrote: "I'm not sure whether it's the same thing, but I went to a talk last month that questioned the "Somatic Mutation Theory" of cancer. This is the prevailing orthodoxy that cancer is caused by mutation..."

As someone who makes a living interpreting genetic mutations in cancers, I can confidently say that all cancers are genetically driven, whether it's at the level of single base pair changes in DNA, insertions, deletions or duplications in DNA, or on a more macro level, deletions, duplications, copy neutral loss of heterozygosity on the order of whole chromosomal regions or whole chromosomes, or chromosomal rearrangements that lead to fusion gene drivers. Maybe the speaker was talking about epigenetic changes, which are when certain genes are silenced thru methylation of CpG islands usually at the promoter, but those are largely driven by somatic driver mutations in certain genes.

Spontaneous remission of cancer is probably in reference to immune surveillance whereby immune system cells identify and kill cells that appear to be non-self, like cancer cells or cells infected by a virus. But for cancerous cells to arise, they have to acquire mutations. As an interesting sidebar, immune surveillance is exploited by several blockbuster cancer drug classes on the market these days, CAR-T (where a cancer patient's own T cells are extracted from their blood, genetically engineered to kill the patient's cancer cells, then reinjected back into the patient's body) and PD-1 inhibitors.

Chronic inflammation can actually cause somatic mutations. Inflammation is caused by immune cells releasing cytokines and other noxious chemicals in response to some trigger, which induces free radicals and reactive oxygen species which damage DNA. When the damaged DNA isn't repaired, mutations propagate. This is one of the reasons why people with chronic inflammatory illnesses are prone to developing cancers of their affected organs -- i.e., gastric cancer in those chronically infected with H. pylori, liver cancer in those chronically infected with hepatitis B or C, GI tract cancers in those with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis.

CatReader, Recently, I finished, 'We Are Electric,' by Sally Adee. The author discussed research results providing evidence of cancer also being caused by our increased exposure to ever strengthening electric fields. This information was balanced by the unfortunate history of get-rich quackery applications of electricity as cures for disease beginning in the time of Thomas Edison. The author communicated the extreme reluctance of the medical community to take research results showing connections between cancer (and other diseases) to electric field exposures seriously. Do you have an opinion on this topic?

Michael wrote: "CatReader, Recently, I finished, 'We Are Electric,' by Sally Adee. The author discussed research results providing evidence of cancer also being caused by our increased exposure to ever strengtheni..."

I haven't come across that argument yet. I do know that X-ray radiation (high frequency on the electromagnetic spectrum) damage DNA, and that's why they're used to treat certain cancers (precisely to preferentially damage and kill cancer cells which replicate more rapidly than most non-cancer cells), and why people who are exposed to radiation are at higher risk for developing cancer later on. UV light (also high frequency) also predisposes to cancer by cross-linking cytosine (C) bases in DNA that can result in their mutation into thymine (T) bases, hence why UV-induced melanomas have the genetic signature of C>T (or G>A) mutations.

Has anyone read The Secret History of the War on Cancer - it discusses chemical exposure primarily, although it does get into some electric stuff later on in the book (published 2006 or something like that). An interesting parallel to tobacco industry's denial of exposures contributing to cancer. And another area that is kinda fascinating is viruses that contribute to - or cause - not sure how to put it - cancers.

Back to Betsy's beginning of this thread - really like Philip Ball and I've been excited to read more about epigenetics, and also really excited by some areas of embryology where it seems to be unclear (?) what's being driven by genes and what's being driven by maybe more physic/mechanical factors (eg. fluid dynamics - I couldn't find the article I was thinking of - I think there was one in Nature, but here's something along the same topic https://journals.biologists.com/dev/a... ) - ANYWAY - there's a book I haven't read but might be keen to nominate :)

laurena wrote: "... I couldn't find the article I was thinking of - I think there was one in Nature, but here's something along the same topic https://journals.biologists.com/dev/a... ) - ..."

Very interesting review article Laurena! Years ago in graduate school I studied fluid dynamics, but as applied to the atmosphere and ocean. Now I see that it is really important in biology, too!

thank you for recommending good books sir