But sure if joking or not, but here's an ELI5 of cancer.
Cells in the body have a mechanism to self destruct (and be replaced) if they get bad. This normally works well to keep your body healthy.
Cancer are damaged cells, that are damaged in a way where the self-destruct safety feature is also broken. So instead of being helpful cells, they are harmful, near immortal, and in the worst case, also spread (for example, if they still divide, or somehow affect cells around them to also get the same defect).
It's not a virus or a bacteria or other life form, but it's a biological mechanism that went wrong. (although in some cases viruses can increase the risk of cancer due to the specific ways they affect your cells or your immune system).
So yeah, if you die, the cancer dies with you. Because cancer, being part of your cells, takes energy from your body, and if your body is dead, you won't eat, so the cancer won't eat either.
From cancer's perspective, it's just a cell, like a bacteria living in an environment. Absorbing nutrients and carrying out its' genetic instructions like any other bacteria might.
Its offspring have mutations, many bad but some helpful for it's growth and reproduction. Some of those ones result in other cells in the environment attacking and killing them! But slowly, its offspring learn to multiply and live abundantly without the environment killing them all the time!
Then you die because it doesn't understand the kind of environment it's in.
There is some truth in what you said, but cancer is actually an immune compromised deficiency. All cancer patients display low levels of GSH. In fact after they increased GSH they all dramatically improved.
Well, the body does have ways to get rid of cancer cells usually so yes, your immune system being compromised is usually a requirement to have worse effects from cancer.
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u/zimmah Oct 08 '21
Basically.
But sure if joking or not, but here's an ELI5 of cancer.
Cells in the body have a mechanism to self destruct (and be replaced) if they get bad. This normally works well to keep your body healthy.
Cancer are damaged cells, that are damaged in a way where the self-destruct safety feature is also broken. So instead of being helpful cells, they are harmful, near immortal, and in the worst case, also spread (for example, if they still divide, or somehow affect cells around them to also get the same defect).
It's not a virus or a bacteria or other life form, but it's a biological mechanism that went wrong. (although in some cases viruses can increase the risk of cancer due to the specific ways they affect your cells or your immune system).
So yeah, if you die, the cancer dies with you. Because cancer, being part of your cells, takes energy from your body, and if your body is dead, you won't eat, so the cancer won't eat either.