A Strange Biology Cancer Cells That Crowns Its Immortality with Death

When cancer is mentioned, we all think of a lot of negative information or experience from the past and the time we live in. It is quite normal to think like this, but when we look at the biology of a cancer cell, we realize that it is an incredible process. At the beginning of these processes is cell immortality. In fact, the basis of cancer is the deterioration of a healthy cell (due to physical, chemical and biological factors) and the inability of this unhealthy cell to die.

So, what does it mean for a cell not to die? Is cell death normal or abnormal? Can we understand that our cells are dead? Let's answer these questions together.

First of all, our cells are small pieces that are specialized to do a job. These parts come together and form organs, which ultimately perform a function in our body. We can think of it as if dozens of large and small wheels in a mechanical watch came together for a single task.

Most cells die over time, and every dying cell is replaced by a new cell. This is a normal process, that is, a physiological state. There are many reasons for a cell to die. The most well-known of these causes is telomere shortness. Each dividing cell's DNA fragments, called 'telomeres', shorten and eventually die by deteriorating the genomic integrity and becoming dysfunctional. Sometimes this cell death can be pathological and this situation is called 'necrosis' in biology. Necrosis can be caused by physical or chemical damage, immune reactions, etc. Many reasons can trigger it. Since necrosis is out of our scope, I will not describe it in detail.

Cell death is essentially a defense mechanism that takes place to protect the organism (that is, our entire body). When the structure of a cell is changed by our body, it perceives it as abnormal and decides to die. For this, our immune cells give that cell 'kill itself' signals. Sometimes, without the need for any signal from outside the cell, a similar signal is generated inside the cell and cell death occurs. This condition is known as programmed cell death, cell suicide, or apoptosis in biology.

In cancer cells, on the other hand, this situation, namely apoptosis, does not occur in any way. It does not react to 'kill yourself' signals coming from outside the cell, a similar signal does not occur inside the cell, and ultimately the cell cannot die. Mutations underlie the unresponsiveness to these signals. Mutations occur and accumulate in the cell so that a healthy cell evolves into a cancerous cell. Let's not forget that the cell cannot die, interestingly, these mutations constantly signal the cell to 'replicate itself' and the cell divides endlessly. It is so divided that it becomes a visible, palpable mass. This situation is very dangerous for our body. This growing mass cannot easily be recognized as foreign by our body, and even if it does, it becomes an unkillable clump of cells because it does not respond to 'kill yourself' signals. Finally, this situation progresses until the bankruptcy of the tissue in which the mass is located, and then metastasis (if it is malignant) until the death of the organism. As we said in our title, cancer cells thus crown their immortality with death.

Finally, cell death can be agreed with histochemical tests, but not everyone can have such a test. It can only be requested by authorized persons for illness or research purposes. For this, tissue sections are taken and stained with special dyes. It is then examined under a microscope. A cell undergoing apoptosis has a specific appearance resembling small bubbles. The tissue section taken is examined under the microscope to determine whether this specific image exists. In addition, many molecular tests for cell death have been developed and are widely used in diagnosis and research. Necrosis is also present with histochemical and serological tests.