COURSE XV: Cancer

Cancer has become a common diagnosis, affecting 1 in 2 people in industrialised nations. In this lesson we seek to make sense of its patterns and behaviour in order to decipher what is out of balance and why. We learn about the cellular hallmarks of cancer and then journey back to the first course where we studied cells, organelles, and energy generation. What becomes clear is that cancer is rooted in a metabolic derangement, which damages the mitochondria and their capacity to generate energy. The oxidant stress that ensues then causes ‘chromosomal instability’ with very particular patterns of genetic mutations. With this foundational appreciation of the processes at play, we consider pathways to remedy the metabolic and cellular imbalances in order to nurture a terrain unfavourable to cancer.