Cancer, How would Cancer Cells act under Extreme Pressure?

Question

Would it be posable to experiment with cancer cells at extreme pressure like at the depth of the oceans? I think the groath would be killed off under such extreme pressure or made weak also there could be other cells made stronger to fight the cancer cells? So would it be possable to put a human body under high pressure then kill off the cancer cells while they are so weak??

Kicks,, That is what I was talking about, Cancer cells reproduce at an abnormally rapid pace. Under high pressure they would be slower and posably there could be a cell to counter act it at this time that a Doctor could introduce into the area. ? I'm hoping

Tricia, I was looking at cancer cells like I would on a battle field ie: the enemy..so if I weaken the enemy down some then I would attack..Example, if the enemy is weak in the light of day, I would shine light on them at night.

Thanks Dynamite,

Answer 1

This is an interesting concept. The way to increase pressure is to use hyperbaric oxygen treatment like that used for "nitrogen bends" or diving sickness.
The high pressure may possibly cause injury to the cancer cells as they tend to have a higher metabolic rate than normal cells. Maybe it may speed up their metabolism and cause cell death for the cancer cells more than normal cells?
The problem lies in figuring which cancer type may be respond to such therapy?
Can hyperbaric therapy be combined with radiation or chemotherapy to have a higher efficacy in treating cancers?
Hmmn!!!

Answer 2

That wouldn't be likely since the entire body would be under the same amount of pressure, therefore hypothetically weakening all the cells in the body. But what really happens is the body adjusts to the pressure over time and then ultimatly the pressure would have no effect because of that.

Cancer cells are essentially any cell of the body that begins to reproduce at an abnormally rapid pace and in the wrong places, invading the cells that belong in whatever part of the body the cancer is infecting. Maybe a drug that could stop the cells from multiplying would be better.

Answer 3

The only thing that distinguishes a cancer cell from any other cell is the fact that it can't stop dividing and replicating. It is growing out of control. Although some cancers are more delicate than others, i.e. blue cell tumors, they are rare. You run up against the problem of how do you kill the roosters without killing the hens too.

Conventional treatments use the fact that cancer cells replicate faster than non-cancerous cells by targeting that action. Chemotherapy targets cells that divide. You do kill some normal cells and tissue, but the majority go into the cells that are growing all the time (that is why your hair falls out).

You can't kill cancer cells with extreme pressure without killing the same number of healthy ones. If that weren't the case, you could drop someone off the roof of a building and, in theory, the cancer would go away.....that's a lot of extreme pressure on the body.......not to mention, while bottom fishing, I've pulled up a couple of rock fish with lovely tumors growing on them, and they live normally under high water pressure. Besides, no one has developed a cell that can attack cancer yet, let alone slow it down.

There are cancer cells, taken from a long-dead woman, still growing in a petri dish. They were harvested in 1952. She died three years later. As long as they have nutrients to grow off of, they will never die. Chew on that one!

Answer 4

try asking the rosetta@home team......................http://boinc.bakerlab.org/rosetta/