The Cancer Cell as A Factory

It seems like every month, the media reports another cancer breakthrough discovery. Excitement and hope flare for a few weeks, but then the new drug fades into the background. What’s going on in those labs? We have to remember that cancer is a much more complex process than diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease. These conditions are caused by one cell process controlled by a hard-working protein called an enzyme. It’s like a car factory where 99% of the different assembly lines are doing fine, but one machine controlled by one operator is turning out a bad part. The drug either blocks the bad part of the machine or helps the good part compensate, and the part comes out OK.

Now picture a cancer cell, where instead of one bad machine, there is chaos as each line turns out different parts: helicopter, submarine, lipstick case, etc. The whole factory is in need of repair. That’s what the researchers are trying to fix, and it’s the difference between changing a flat tire by the side of the road and changing the gears on the transmission while driving 70 mph on the freeway. No wonder there are so many crashes on the road to discovery.