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CLTann:
Thanks for owning your post. It was very thought provoking. I appreciate the fact that you reposted.
Debbie:
You are correct. It is misleading to compare cancer with roving unstealthy cancer cells. Forgive my imprecise use of language. I tried, obviously unsuccessfully, to make the differentiation in my post. Please forgive any misunderstanding that I may have created.
I would also like to point out that I really don't know any of the answers to this puzzle. I just want to ask questions and stimulate thought. I do have holes in my knowledge and that is why I am posting on this thread.
I try to look at biological problems as a system. The immune system failing to find some certain types of stealthy cancer cells may be a function of the immune system or a function of the stealthy cells themselves.
Or it could be just dumb luck. Cancer cells reproduce rapidly so they also mutate more rapidly. The immune system kills the less stealthy cells so that only the most stealthy survive and reproduce, creating tumors. In a way it could be a Darwinian microcosm of survival of the fittest. Eventually, given enough mutations, there will be some cells that can hide from the immune system.
Lee
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