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Article: Good versus bad cells.(cell death and metabolism of cancer cells and neurons)(Report)
- Article from:
- The Science Teacher
- Article date:
- February 1, 2009
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2009 National Science Teachers Association. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Cancer cells and nervous system neurons may not look or act alike, but both use strikingly similar ways to survive, according to new research from the University of North Carolina (UNC)--Chapel Hill School of Medicine. The study published in Nature Cell Biology is the first to describe how neurons (nerve cells) and cancer cells (see image above) achieve the common goal of inhibiting the series of biochemical events called "apoptosis" that eventually causes cells to break down and die.
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That is good in the case of neurons, but bad when it comes to cancer. "In neurons, inhibiting cell death is physiologically important to ensuring ...