Cancer is projected to kill 559,650 Americans, more than 1,500 each day in 2007, with 1,444,020 new cases developing. The lifetime risk of cancer for men in the United States is slightly less than 1 in 2; for women the risk is a little more than 1 in 3. It is estimated that 1,372,910 new cancer cases will be diagnosed in 2005. Spending on cancer cost our nation $206.3 billion in 2006 alone. A role connexins play in cancer was proposed as long as 40 years ago. Since that time, literally hundreds of scientific papers have validated this claim. Cancer cells are generally deficient in functional connexins. Many tumor-causing agents are known to inhibit connexin function, while known cancer-preventing agents, such as carotinoids, enhance connexin function. Both the development of and the metastasis, or spread of, tumors involve connexin dysfunction. The list of tumor types associated with impaired connexin function grows each day and currently includes: prostate, brain (gliomas, astrocytic tumors), lung, breast, liver, bladder, ovarian, uterine (endometrial), and thyroid cancer. Many of the known cancer-preventive foods contain molecules that boost connexin number and function: Carotinoids (carotene, lycopene), isoflavones (genistein), polyphenols (resveratrol, curcumin, and others).
History
The term cancer or carcinoma originated in the days of the ancient Greeks. It is Celsus who translated carcinos into the Latin cancer, also meaning crab. Galen used "oncos" to describe tumors, the root for the modern word oncology. Hippocrates described several types of cancer. He called benign tumors oncos, Greek for swelling, and malignant tumors carcinos, Greek for crab or crayfish. He later added the suffix -oma, Greek for swelling, giving the name carcinoma. Treatment was based on the humor theory of four bodily fluids (black and yellow bile, blood, and phlegm). According to a patient's humor, treatment consisted of diet, bloodletting, and/or laxatives. Through the centuries it was discovered that cancer could occur anywhere in the body, but humoral-based treatment remained popular until the 19th century with the discovery of cells.
With use of microscopy in the 18th century, it was discovered that cancer spread from the primary tumor through the lymph nodes to other sites. This spread is known as metastasis. Since then medicine has utilized surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, immunization, nutrition and other treatments for cancer. Although these treatments may reduce the amount of tumor cells, slow down their growth extending the lifetime of the patient and improving the quality of his/her life, we do not have an actual “cure” for this disease that will transform malignant cells back to their original disease-free state