When you think about cancer, it's usually about the destruction that cancer is known to wreak on peoples' lives. It's never about creation, which makes this news so mind-blowing: a new species has been brought forth through cancer cells. Tobacco farmer Henrietta Lacks had a strange tumor in 1951 that baffled doctors. It was unlike any other cancer previously discovered or discovered since, so of course doctors were interesting in studying the unique cervical tumor.
A researcher was able to propogate the cells of the tumor to create an essentially immortal line of human cells, and the cells have never stopped growing due to their mutation. Since then these cells have been used for a number of experiments to the point of even being sent into space to test zero gravity! Lacks' cells have grown to the point to where some researchers claim that they are their own new species since they continue to adapt to their environments as they grow, which is a keystone quality of a unique species!
That may be a stretch to some, but what do you think? Can cancer truly create new species?
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia
Add new comment