STROMAL QUISLINGS (figure THAT one out!)

Linda waits up for Santa Claus
1970

The latest NCI cancer bulletin (7/24/12) is filled with useful stuff, I’m sure, but is short on the reports of direct, blood-thirsty assaults on cancer that keep me engrossed.  There is one article of real interest, but trying to do research on it keeps putting me to sleep.  It appears that there is a gene, BRAF by name, mutations of which are found in many cancers.  Something like 80% of melanomas have it.  There are drugs available to disable the proteins “coded for” by this mutant gene – the chemical names of these drugs  all seem to end in “…ib”, no doubt for some perfectly sound reason.  Anyway, the ib drugs slow the progress of cancer, but they don’t actually cure it.  A new study (the usual cast of thousands – 18 authors in this case) indicates that the problem lies with the “tumor microenvironment”.  Specifically, cells of connective tissue apparently secrete a protein called HGF which protects tumor cells from the ibs.  If these connective tissue cells were people in, say, wartime France they would be shot as collaborators.  If there ever was a maladaptive trait, this has to be one.  How come evolution hasn’t taken care of the problem?