How do cancers start? Why do many cells that have cancer genes never turn cancerous? These remain vexing questions within oncology research. Working with transparent organ-revealing zebra fish Dr. Leonard Zon of Boston Children’s Hospital, Dr. Charles K. Kaufman, and their colleagues have made headway in terms of answers. A recent issue of the Journal of Science reports observations of the very first cell of a melanoma in development.
Standard thinking is that transition from normal to oncological results from a random mutation. What the researchers found was other than random: a cell that had reverted to its embryonic form (a pre-differentiated state when it could have developed into any cell type) just before becoming a melanoma cell.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/29/health/how-skin-cancer-develops-melanoma-zebra-fish.html?_r=0
A bit of background:
Skin cells that became cancerous did so due to having activated a gene known as crestin that is normally turned on during an early phase in the embryonic life of neural crest cells found to occupy an area close to the brain. When the fate of such cells is later determined and they become skin, bone or teeth for example, the crestin gene is turned off. The cancer process’s choice of embryonic cells to start out with makes perfect sense since embryonic cells proliferate readily and like tumor cells can develop their own blood supply.
Knowing of the role of embryonic cells in the cancer process is useful. But many cells harbor oncological genes and never become cancerous. What explains that? Or turning the question around, why do certain cells (choose to?) become cancerous? Researchers will continue to grapple with these questions.
My own work involves interpreting the process through which people become ill with various chronic conditions including cancer. The mind/body perspective allows for and reflects how changes in consciousness create or negate disease susceptibility. My book Interpreting Chronic Illness, the Convergence of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Homeopathy and Biomedicine utilizes a system derived from Chinese Five Phases theory that I call Sense Dimensional Analysis. Though it appears metaphysical the system actually has predictive power. For example, it allowed me to predict a relationship between distortion in the sense of smell and Alzheimers disease prior to its being clinically demonstrated.
The book’s analysis of cancer section is lengthy. What follows are key points. Notice how comfortably the new discovery concerning embryonic cells fits. Cancer is analyzed as a disharmony in each of the five Sense Dimensions, meaning failure to resolve key embedded issues.
Cancer described and explained according to Sense Dimensional Analysis:
- Sense Dimension of Touch
At the physical level this dimension pertains to cardiology and the circulatory system. At the spiritual level it pertains to heart symbolism and all its associations. Within this context cancer represents failure to resolve a core antinomy pitting Isolation versus Synchronicity. This is expressed by contact insensitivity displayed by cancer cells elbowing into unfamiliar tissue. They fail to respect the integrity of neighboring nearby cells. Featuring communion, responsibility and love at Touch’s positive pole, the tendency of cancer cells to go on suicide missions and exhibit martyr-like loyalty to the tumor rather than to the over-riding organism expresses isolation and asynchronicity. Touch being associated with the dependent state of infancy and childhood, the originating melanoma cell’s embryonic state as described above is not unexpected. - Sense Dimension of Taste
At the physical level this dimension pertains to digestion and metabolism. In spiritual terms it pertains to issues surrounding nurturance, ambition and growth. Within this context cancer represents failure to resolve the core antinomy pitting Anxiety versus Challenge. This is expressed by the aggressiveness (morbid Challenge) and rapacious hunger of the ever-expanding tumor. - Sense Dimension of Smell
At the physical level this dimension pertains to the lungs and respiration. When we sob from loss our breath is chaotic. And so at the spiritual level this dimension pertains to grief as noted within Chinese Medicine. Breath and the sense of smell orient us in time. Control of the breath role in centering meditation practices helps us overcome disorientation as when we become overly attached to the past. Within this context cancer represents failure to resolve the core antinomy pitting Disorientation versus Centeredness. Though too complicated to describe fully here, Interpreting Chronic Illness demonstrates how a certain class of aggressive cancers of the breast (a bodily area overseen by the Lungs, or Metal in Five Phase theory) resulting from a genetic mutation knonw as a frameshift perfectly manifest disorientation occurring at the genetic level. - Sense Dimension of Hearing
At the physical level this most complex dimension pertains to fluid metabolism, but also the bones, the kidneys and bladder and genetic inheritance. At the spiritual level this dimension is about existential issues such as what is my life worth and what happens to my soul when I die? Within this context cancer represents failure to resolve the core antinomy pitting Entropy versus Consolidation. This is expressed by the well-established genetic or inheritable basis of cancer, within my model synonymous with the consolidation of a legacy (something Chinese Medicine handles with great sophistication in energetic terms). - Sense Dimension of Sight
At the physical level this dimension pertains to the nervous system where seizures and spasms reflect inner chaos. At the spiritual level this dimension pertains to vision in the large sense, as in our vision for the future or a greater vision for mankind. It also concerns creative regeneration, immortality and rebirth. As vision is panoramic it can force us to confront what we would prefer not to see. This inspires anger. Anger prompts our either lashing out blindly or converting anger into something possessed of enduring value, namely creativity. Within this context cancer represents failure to resolve the core antimony pitting Chaos versus Creativity. We find the morbid creativity of the tumor in seeking to colonize unfamiliar tissue and the monstrous physical distortions that pursue. The tumor cell reproduces indefinitely due to never shortening its telomeres. The recently discovered fountain of youth upon which it so falsely draws—the ever-youthful embryonic cell as found in melanoma—parodies natural rebirth such as found in the season of spring. Last but not least, cancer manifests morbid Sight in terms of the tumor cell population’s general blindness to an over-riding fact: the tumor will not survive the death of its host.
If you want to a live long and healthy life here is advice you can take to the bank: advice: Make a point of resolving the core issues embedded within the five Sense Dimensions. Interested in finding out where you stand with regard to Sense Dimensional health? Create (and meditate on) on the self-diagnosis mandala I have developed. It can also be found in the appendix of Interpreting Chronic Illness.