Why people are afraid to get infected with cancer - and why panic is dangerous
Text: Sofia Menshikov, resident physician at the Oncology Department of the First MGMU named. Sechenov and founder of the telegram channel Oncology Fellow
For people with cancercoming to Moscow for examination and treatment, the charity foundation "Give Life" pays rent for apartments. In early December, it became known that the residents of one of these houses collected signatures for the eviction of these people - because cancer, in their opinion, is contagious. "Cancer is a contagious infectious disease! ... We have a hotbed of infection!" - says the petition, under which tenants are asked to sign. We tell who at various times considered cancer infectious and why it is not.
Humanity has been fighting against malignant tumors for a long time, and during this time various theories of their origin have arisen. Of course, there was an infection. In memory of this time, the cover of Life magazine in 1962 remained with one of the latest photo shoots by Marilyn Monroe and a large inscription "New evidence was obtained that cancer is infectious." In the sixties of the last century, the world was as determined as ever. Medicine has just defeated polio with an effective vaccine, a terrible disease that has mutilated more than one generation of people.
Cancer was supposed to be next. The degree of boiling in society has reached such a point that President Richard Nixon, inclined, according to oncologist and writer S. Mukherjee, to approach tasks assertively, could no longer ignore the problem. The ambitious president planned to beat cancer in just a few years. Despite the fact that the detection of viruses was then “in vogue,” and the financing of the project was excessive, it was not possible to find an infectious agent that causes tumors. Scientists have concluded that cancer arises due to the activation of internal proto-oncogenes - genes that regulate cell division and, as a result, mutations can make it uncontrollable. Later in the viral theory of cancer they became so disappointed that Harald zur Hausen took a lot of time and effort to convince his colleagues that the human papillomavirus can cause cervical cancer - he made his discovery in 1976.
Several cases of "infection" with cancer are described - however, this required far from contact or airborne droplets, but in fact cell transplantation
However, in the literature several cases of “infection” with cancer are actually described - however, this required far from contact or airborne droplets, but actually transplanting tumor cells. For example, in 1986 there was a publication about a lab technician who accidentally injured her arm with a syringe with colorectal cancer cells, and a tumor grew in her place. The same happened with the surgeon who operated on the oncologic patient and accidentally injured himself. Genetic analysis of the tumor by the surgeon showed that it is identical to the tumor that the patient had. Later, these people were fine: they were cured and there were no signs of tumors. Such cases were repeated and after - it is known that almost two thirds of tumors, accidentally transplanted with donor organs, die in the new organism.
But there are other examples. In the same distant sixties, doctors transplanted melanoma cells from daughter to mother in the hope that the immunity of a healthy woman would develop antibodies against cancer. The experiment ended in complete collapse - both women died from the progression of melanoma. Approximately the same thing is happening now with the Tasmanian devils: these animals die because they infect each other with cancer. Living on an isolated island led to closely related interbreeding, and aggressive behavior and out-of-territory wars contribute to the transmission of a disease known as the Tasmanian devil's facial tumor.
In an experiment on hamsters, scientists also managed to get cancer, which in the laboratory was capable of being transmitted from one animal to another. True, this is not a viral or bacterial cause of cancer, but one of its features: in order for a tumor to develop, it must “slip away” from the immune response. Malignant cells are formed daily, and normal immunity copes with them, leaving no trace. So, in closely related hamsters, the “defect” of the immune system was such that it allowed the development of the same tumors. If cancer cells enter a healthy organism that is not genetically related, it is likely to be defeated.
It is also impossible to get cancer in the laboratory, although the yellow press once almost convinced the whole world of the opposite. All in the same sixties of the last century, scientists were faced with the problem of contamination of some laboratory cell cultures by others, or rather, only one - HeLa cells. These cells were obtained from a cervical tumor of a young African American Henrienta Lax, who soon died from this disease. HeLa (HEnrietta LAcks) were the first human cells in the world to survive in the artificial environment in the laboratory - and they are actively used for the purposes of science to this day.
They check the effect of various drugs and substances, including cancer drugs; polio vaccine was also tested on the same cell line. Due to the lack of sterile tools, special equipment and standardized work algorithms, HeLa cells often accidentally infected other cell cultures — and the problem reached such a scale that it questioned all the scientific advances of previous years, and scientists quite seriously began to discuss the problem of contagious cancer. ". It should be noted that not a single case of infection of people working with HeLa cells is known.
This is a vicious circle: the worse surrounding people treat those who are sick, the more difficult it is to de-stigmatize the disease.
So, at the moment, people are not described "contagious" types of cancer. There are tumors that can be triggered by a chronic viral infection — for example, HPV (cervical cancer) or hepatitis C virus (hepatocellular cancer). But even oncogenic viruses are not cancer viruses. The same HPV in most people is spontaneously eliminated from the body for several years after infection, while in others it has been harmless for many years.
In relation to cervical cancer, the most common tumor of those that can be caused by oncogenic viruses, there have been effective screening and prevention programs for a long time - you can read about it, for example, on the website of the Cancer Prevention Foundation. Vaccination against HPV, which was first recommended only to children, and then to women under 26, is now recommended in many countries to people under 45, regardless of gender. And, perhaps, it is worth reminding ourselves more often that cancer is in most cases a disease of a way of life. So, smoking is the main cause of almost fifteen types of tumors, and obesity is thirteen.
Low awareness provokes fear, and fear, in turn, provokes aggression and an attempt to protect oneself from imaginary danger. And it's not just about collecting signatures against renting apartments - it's about making serious decisions. According to one of the city legends of St. Petersburg, the Oncology Research Institute built away from the city precisely because of the desire to isolate patients (and the tuberculous dispensary was placed at the planned place, ironically,). It is not known whether this is true or not - but it is not difficult to imagine the thinking of the people who made the decision.
The worst result is for those who are already under attack - people with severe illness and their loved ones. This is a vicious circle: the worse surrounding people treat those who are sick, the more difficult it is to destigmatize the disease and form an understanding of how necessary help and care are needed, even if life is not saved. While humanity is not able to get rid of cancer or make it curable in all cases, it is necessary to invest not only in new developments, but also in palliative care and anesthesia - and therefore, to be kinder at all levels.
Photo: Kateryna_Kon - stock.adobe.com (1, 2)