Did you know that even cancer cells need blood to survive? That if that supply is closed off these cells would just die naturally. The truth about cancer cells is that they may grow independent of blood, but that is for only a short while. They may just grow up to two millimeters and then they will cease to grow unless they are supplied blood from nearby blood vessels. Now there are some proteins responsible for the growth and development of new blood vessels in the vicinity. These proteins have been coded with specific growth factors that influence this development.
For instance, these proteins are responsible for the supply of enough blood vessels to developing embryos to meet their blood requirements. In the case of full grown individuals, when a man gets hurt, he will need the regeneration of the blood vessels around the wound to heal. This is the reason behind the reddening of the area around a wound.
One of these proteins is called a vascular endothelial growth factor, or alternatively, vascuolotropin. This particular protein is secreted by the invading cancer cells and it then binds to the neighboring tissues and issues a series of commands which effectively instruct them to produce more blood vessels for the survival of the cancer cells. This process is tagged angiogenesis, which means formation of new blood vessels. The more the number of blood vessels available to the cancer cells, the more their growth. The vessels also serve as avenues for the spread of the cancer cells, serving as links to further parts of the body. Researchers say that the rte of growth of cancer cells can now be measured by the rate of growth of the vessels.
Here’s another funny discovery. Cancer cells secrete blood vessel promoting proteins, but they also secrete inhibiting ones, also called angiogenic inhibitors. Recent discovery has led us to believe that although cancer cells really want to spread out, they also do not want other cancer cells spreading out to the other parts of the body they are not specialized it. As one may want to look at it, cancer cells can be said to be jealous things, wanting no other cancer cells in any other part of the body. This does not mean you should then ignore your cancer cell because it won’t grow to the rest of your body if you don’t go for surgery. The reason I am advising against this is that this phenomenon has not been proven sure for all cancer cases.
Drugs like thalidomide are useful in combating cancer. In the early sixties when this drug was first introduced, many women began giving birth to their children without limbs. However, if you are a woman who is not going to have more children and are an adult without need for more blood vessels, this can be your ticket to combating cancer cells.
The good news is that there are now some drugs that are being developed that do not even have the negative side effect noticed in thalidomide.