the.com/cancer cells
your own cells, gone rogue, immortal by mistake, playing evolution at your expense.
means cells that mutated their way past the body's kill switches and now divide forever, ignoring every signal to stop.
from named by hippocrates around 400 bce, who saw tumors with spreading veins and called them karkinos, greek for crab, because the shape reminded him of one.
telomerase trickthey reactivate an enzyme that keeps chromosomes from aging
warburg effectthey ferment sugar for fuel even with oxygen around
immortal since 1951henrietta lacks cells still divide in labs today
self-made blood supplythey trigger new vessels to grow and feed themselves
for instance
hela cells — harvested 1951, still used in labs worldwide, over 50 million tons grown
philadelphia chromosome — 1960 discovery linking a gene swap to leukemia
jimmy carter's melanoma — 2015 case treated with immunotherapy, cleared within months