Zombie Cancer?!

• TA wrote on 2011-07-27 11:59

  "Today a group of medical researchers reported the discovery of something very intriguing in a type of pancreatic cancer called PanNET. Turns out PanNET is associated with mutations in two genes that help control a part of your DNA that determines whether you die.
  
  Specifically, these genes can artificially lengthen the telomeres, caps on the ends of chromosomes that gradually erode as you grow older. Above, you can see PanNET cells - the glowing pink bits are the areas where the cancer is causing telomere extension. Usually, short telomeres are associated with disease and death. As a result, some scientists believe that keeping telomeres long could be one way to lengthen life (a few tests in mice seem to back this up). PanNET may have just given us two genetic tools to prolong life. The question is, what would a cancer-extended life be like?
  
  Mutations in the genes ATRX and DAXX are responsible for the effect that's intrigued Johns Hopkins Medical Institute researcher Christopher Heaphy and his team. In PanNET cancer, these genes shut down. As a result, the proteins that these genes manufacture no longer keep the telomeres in fighting trim. The telomeres grow wildly in a process called, perhaps unsurprisingly, "Alternative Lengthening of Telomeres."
  
  Unfortunately for people suffering PanNET, the extra long telomeres are what keep cancerous genes alive even when they are malfunctioning horribly. That's why it's probably more appropriate to call these cells undead rather than immortal. Yes, they're alive, but they're shambling along and trying to replicate and replace every other cell with a version of themselves.
  
  The question is whether researchers like Heaphy could turn this undeath into something more like eternal life. Knowing which genes to shut down in order to allow telomeres to lengthen could be the first step in a process that ends with healthy cells that don't age. The problem is, no one knows for sure whether short telomeres cause aging, or are just a result of some other age clock in the body we haven't yet identified."

  
  http://io9.com/5817312/a-tumor-that-could-provide-the-key-to-making-zombies
  
  Holy crap. The end has started! :worry2:
• Taycat wrote on 2011-07-27 12:21
  I can see the possible benefits, but still, they do not outweigh the consequences.
• Chromatic wrote on 2011-07-27 12:26
  so it doesnt come as virus but as cancer..... unless someone can make something to accelerate the zombie cancer spreading, there should be no worries
• Cynic wrote on 2011-07-27 12:42
  It had to happen eventually.
• Jelly wrote on 2011-07-27 13:20
  This information may prove useful for me.
• Sleeperdial wrote on 2011-07-27 13:50
  While my understanding of biology is like, kindergarten at best, isn't cancer a little bit too risky to start putting in people considering how fast cancer mutates and much of a **** it is to get rid of?
• Sumpfkraut wrote on 2011-07-27 13:53
  :shrug:
• Cynic wrote on 2011-07-27 13:58

  Quote from Sleeperdial;528854:

  While my understanding of biology is like, kindergarten at best, isn't cancer a little bit too risky to start putting in people considering how fast cancer mutates and much of a **** it is to get rid of?

  
  
  If the government and people with power over these matters are anything like I assume they are, I doubt they'd give a rats ass.
• Sleeperdial wrote on 2011-07-27 14:00

  Quote from Cynic;528859:

  If the government and people with power over these matters are anything like I assume they are, I doubt they'd give a rats ass.

  
  
  So we're gonna have a secret sector of the government trying to reach immortality through zombies? Are we in call of duty?
• Jelly wrote on 2011-07-27 14:10

  Quote from Sleeperdial;528861:

  So we're gonna have a secret sector of the government trying to reach immortality through zombies? Are we in call of duty?

  
  
  Shotgun being Richtofen!
• Cynic wrote on 2011-07-27 14:12

  Quote from Sleeperdial;528861:

  So we're gonna have a secret sector of the government trying to reach immortality through zombies? Are we in call of duty?

  
  
  You're new to the world of humans, huh? =P
  The government has been using chemicals, viruses and things of that nature for years for whatever purposes they might find. It wouldn't be the first time people with sick and/or twisted mines were in a position of power and wanted to push the limits of humanity and see how far they could push until they stepped into the boundaries of a "god".
• Xemnas wrote on 2011-07-27 14:14
  I forsee the founding of Umbrella Corp. happening soon.
• Sleeperdial wrote on 2011-07-27 15:58

  Quote from Cynic;528868:

  You're new to the world of humans, huh? =P
  The government has been using chemicals, viruses and things of that nature for years for whatever purposes they might find. It wouldn't be the first time people with sick and/or twisted mines were in a position of power and wanted to push the limits of humanity and see how far they could push until they stepped into the boundaries of a "god".

  
  
  But this is the first time they've tried using zombies to reach immortality........
  
  I think............
  
  Maybe.......
  
  Hell this is probably the 24th time they've tried...........
• Eyrion wrote on 2011-07-27 17:50
  This is nothing like Call of Duty you fools.. ! It's... Resident Evil.
• Sleeperdial wrote on 2011-07-27 17:54

  Quote from Eyrion;528966:

  This is nothing like Call of Duty you fools.. ! It's... Resident Evil.

  
  
  You don't know the story behind zombies do you?