Cancer is a disease defined by the uncontrolled multiplication of cells associated with an exhaust of the regulatory mechanisms that ensure the harmonious development of our system. By multiplying uncontrollably, cancer cells give rise to tumors increasingly large that grow by invading and destroying surrounding areas (organs). Cancer cells can also swarm away from a body to form a new tumor or circulate in free form. By destroying its environment, cancer can become a real danger to the survival of the living.
Cancer Disease: The cell, basic definitions, and concepts
The human body is complex with overall 3 levels of the system:
- Organs (e.g., heart, brain, lungs, etc.) all of which have a different role and often fundamental to the functioning of the body
- Tissues that make up the organs (eg, muscles, glands, etc.) and the structure body (skeleton, skin)
- Cells, finally, which are the basic unit of fabrics, and have they even a microscopic and complex system
Genuine small autonomous plants, cells communicate and coexist harmoniously in order to preserve the architecture and functions of each organ or system. They comprise:
- An envelope: membrane-equipped small structures (receptors) for communication with the environment
- Various internal equipment which is essential to the continued life of the cell and enable it to play its role in the body
- a core also located within the cell and which contains all the genetic information that the cell uses to determine how to operate: 46 chromosomes arranged in 23 pairs and consist of “genes”
What is a cancer cell?
This is a cell that is totally undisciplined, following an assault or injury and linked to a change in the structure of a gene; this is called a “mutation”. Sometimes, aggression is violent and short. Most often it is low intensity but extends over a long period. This intimate alteration of the cell is the very basis of all cancers. The cell does not stop to multiply and stay alive in a body where usually the cells die and are renewed rapidly. This proliferation will result in the formation of the tumor whose developing arrives to destroy nearby normal cells.
How does one pass of a cancer cell to cancer?
A cancerous cell multiplies many: it begins to form a cell bundle. These cells do much more similar to other neighboring cells: their core is larger, reflecting their intense activity, sometimes size is also larger, even huge. The first cell groups are generally safe, remain “under control” (do not develop). They are sometimes destroyed by the immune system. It takes a combination of about 100,000 cells so that we start talking about the tumor.
A tumor becomes dangerous (malignant) when it begins to “leak” that is to say that cancer cells instead of being grouped together, begin to form extensions to neighboring areas. This infiltration becomes harmful because cancer cells start destroying normal cells, and endanger the functioning of the organ.
New Era of Science (biology and computer)
Microsoft works on a research project that will solve cancer, using DNA computers to reprogram diseased cells, that is the last ambition of Microsoft. The Redmond company also plans to use artificial intelligence to better calibrate the treatments.
“Solve” cancer in a decade? This is what dreams company Satya Nadella. “The fields of biology and computer may appear to be two, says Chris Bishop, Microsoft Research head office in Cambridge. But the complex processes that occur in the cells have some similarity to those that take place in a standard desktop computer. “
The team of “biological computation” Microsoft plans to synthesize microscopic DNA made computers. Thereof in live cells, as rebooting an operating system in case of malfunction. This would, for example, destroy cancer cells as they emerge.
Cancer disease
As head of the biological computation Group, Andrew Philips thinks it “technically possible, within five or ten years to make a smart molecular system that can detect the disease.” The researchers have already developed a software reproduces the archetype of a healthy cell, simulation already used in the study of leukemia. That is for the long term. Meanwhile, Microsoft believes in the more modest use of machine learning techniques to peel the tedious amount of publications in oncology. A human scientist is unable to read the mass of scientific articles published each minute, whereas artificial intelligence could assimilate, and thus find more suitable treatments for each patient.
A critical point lies in drug combinations. When there are hundreds of different substances, we have tens of thousands of couples separate product; and not talking to group three or more. What is nowadays flair could be streamlined by an RN. Still remains to test these therapies on real patients. Microsoft intends to put the fruits of his research in the service of medicine, in particular to better fight against cancer.
Cancer Disease: More Follows
Through artificial neural networks, Microsoft develops algorithms whose complexity intensifies as and processing calculations. The technology is capable of learning by itself resting on predictive models that can anticipate the next maximum calculations to make. These types of algorithms are becoming more prevalent. They serve to better fight against spam, identifying faces, voice synthesis, or character recognition. For its part, Microsoft now wants to go further.
According to experts at Microsoft Research, cancer disease can be similar to a code that can be read. One of the researchers of projects is based on machine learning and natural language algorithms to help researchers analyze all available data in order to design personalized treatment for each patient. Another Microsoft project based on the use of computer vision in radiology to analyze the potential magnification of tumors. One of the most intriguing points that remain, however, is to determine how the cells can be “reprogrammed” to repair the immune system.
Still, unlike Google, Microsoft does not intend to indulge in transhumanism. Questioned by us in April 2015 Bernard Ourghanlian, technical director of Microsoft France, explained: “We have teams of sociologists and anthropologists and you always wonder if a particular innovation is acceptable at the societal level (… ) We are working on a vaccine against AIDS but these immortality stories, we leave it to others.”
