One Renegade Cell: The Quest For The Origins Of Cancer (Science Masters Series)

The last 20 years have brought a revolution in cancer research that will profoundly change diagnosis and treatment of the disease, writes Weinberg in this comprehensive but rigorous introduction to the subject. Weinberg, founder of the Whitehead Institute for Cancer Research and a biology professor at MIT, traces the development of previous theories of cancer, and explains that scientists are now certain that cancer is caused when genes are damaged through a succession of mutations. These can result from damage to a cell's DNA inflicted by mutagens (which can be of foreign origin, such as tobacco smoke, or of internal origin); from normal mistakes made when DNA is copied during cell growth; or from defects in the body's DNA repair machinery. Weinberg discusses the roles of chemical carcinogens, retroviruses and heredity in developing cancer, and explains the body's intricate defenses against tumor growth. Though he argues that cancer will never be fully eradicated because so many mutations occur during long lifetimes ("Given enough time, cancer will strike every human body"), Weinberg is optimistic that increasingly sophisticated understanding of cellular functions will yield more effective treatments for those cancers that cannot be prevented. Though some readers might find the technical sections of the book difficult, it readily conveys the challenge and excitement of scientific discovery. Two illustrations.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

This is the cancer story, told with care and clarity and unfolding like a good detective novel. Skilled detective work is what it has taken to determine the causes and nature of the disease and to bring medical science to a time when it is becoming increasingly possible to prevent or treat cancers. Weinberg, professor of biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a founding member of the nearby Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, is prominent among the detectives. His account starts with the single "renegade cell" that begins an uncontrolled growth in one of the body's tissues, eventually giving rise to a cancerous tumor. But his main focus is on the findings of the past two decades that have yielded an understanding of the disease--among them the role of carcinogens and viruses and the discovery of oncogenes, growth factors and the cell cycle clock. "We have learned much about the invisible forces that create human cancer," he writes. "Knowing the causes of many tumors, we should be able to prevent their appearance, or if they appear, to treat them and achieve permanent cures."