Gone were the days when researchers only thought that inherited genes and environmental factors as well as unchecked lifestyles caused cancer, a new study has emerged to point out that two-thirds of those that have cancer are victims of back luck – plain and simple.
But their bad luck is not one that can be orchestrated or prevented – it is a bad biological luck that stems from random mistakes that could occur when cell division takes place. Two cell researchers from the Johns Hopkins cancer research center in Philadelphia constructed a model of stem cells division that correlated to what happens in cancer-related cases. They were able to determine from results that got run off against historical statistics that two-thirds of cancers occur when random mistakes take place during tissue cell divisions.
According to Dr. Bert Vogelstein of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, “Cancer-free longevity in people exposed to cancer-causing agents, such as tobacco, is often attributed to their ‘good genes,’ but the truth is that most of them simply had good luck.” And this is because each time a cell divides, there’s always a random chance of some mistakes occurring – the more the mistakes that occur during cell divisions the greater the chances of developing cancers.
Since the researchers show that body tissues with the highest number of stem cell divisions possess the highest risks of developing cancers, lifestyle choices play a very minimal role in protecting people against cancers. The researchers focused their research on 31 body tissues whose stem cell division rates have been determined – but they omitted breast and prostate tissues because their cell division rates are not so established.
Eventually, the study revealed that people face the risks of developing lung cancer by 7% as against 1% for thyroid cancer. Meanwhile, smoking and drinking and excessive exposure to direct sunlight could contribute to the risks of developing cancer – but the researchers show that however careful you are in your lifestyle choices, you could still end up having cancer.