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SUMMARY:Cancer: when friends become foes\, and how to make them friends ag
 ain - Professor Gerard Evan FRS FMedSci\, Sir William Dunn Professor of Bi
 ochemistry\, Department of Biochemistry 18.00 - 19.00 
DTSTART:20191028T180000Z
DTEND:20191028T190000Z
UID:TALK130687@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Beverley Larner
DESCRIPTION:Cancer affects almost one in two persons worldwide\, making it
  a devastatingly common disease. However\, each cancer arises from an indi
 vidual cell\, of which there are some hundred thousand billion in each hum
 an. So\, while cancer is a common disease\, it is nonetheless a vanishingl
 y rare phenomenon. Furthermore. Since cancers arise by random mutation in 
 affected cells\, every cancer is different from every other. Indeed\, as r
 andom mutation continues during cancer development and progression\, it is
  possible that every cancer cell in every cancer in every patient is uniqu
 e. Modern genomic technologies have confirmed these facts and exposed canc
 er as a bewilderingly and endlessly complex and diverse. How can we possib
 ly understand\, let alone treat\, such a protean disease? I will present e
 vidence that this apparent complexity may be a distraction. Despite their 
 many differences\, cancers are remarkably similar to each other and share 
 remarkably common underlying features and mechanisms. The clue to understa
 nding these mechanisms comes from an appreciation that cancers are aberran
 t versions of normal processes that serve to maintain and protect us durin
 g our lives. These “friends” only become our “enemies” when they a
 re hacked by cancer-causing mutations. It even seems that cancers carry wi
 thin them mechanisms to reverse themselves\, perhaps opening up an entirel
 y novel approach to cancer treatment. 
LOCATION:Bristol-Myers Squibb Lecture Theatre\, Department of Chemistry
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