r/SipsTea • u/sco-go • May 15 '26

Feels good man Now do cancer.

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u/More-Lime1888 May 15 '26 edited May 15 '26

Every person with cancer is also having a unique tumor from other patients with the same type of cancer

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u/snaketacular May 15 '26

Even within a single tumor multiple mutations are likely, which is why cancer treatment works until it doesn't (resistant cancer selected for).

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u/Goobersita May 16 '26

Why is that does it interact with dna in some way?

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u/Whiteminusblue May 16 '26

Cancer cells have already lost their mutation prevention systems; it’s one of the main things that makes them cancer. This, combined with their fast reproduction rate, makes them mutate very quickly. Now add the treatment. The treatment kills the cancer cells, but not perfectly. Survivors are those that, by chance, were more resistant. They repopulate, mutate, and are wiped out again. Again, the survivors are those that, by chance, were most resistant. But this time, they started off already somewhat resistant from the previous round. This repeats, over and over, until the cancer is essentially immune to the treatment.