Cancer is a disease which affects many organs and thus many tissue types, but usually the same organs and tissue types are affected in the human being and some are more common than others. Obviously, women experience breast cancer more frequently than men and cervical cancer is as common in woman as prostate cancer is common in men. Colon cancer is common in men and women. Lung cancer is common in men and women and is very, very highly connected to smoking behavior. Breathing in inorganic matter such as asbestos and silicon compounds as found in the air during mining operations or other construction activities are also connected to cancer development in the lungs especially cancer of the pleura or lining of the lungs: mesothelioma. Smoking causes cancer of the parenchyma, or the tissue of the lung itself including the bronchial tubes and the the smaller tubules and other tissues of the lung. Often, as in colon, esophageal, vocal cord, skin, stomach,pancreatic duct, bladder, cervix and pharyngeal cancers the surface cells of the structures are involved and whether or not the surface is “internal” or “external” such as the epidermis of the skin, or the epithelium of the colon or stomach seems not to be a meaningful issue. Microscopic ducts and secretory organells as are found in the prostate and the breast and various endocrine glands and the special structures found in the testes and ovaries: cells which are endocrine in nature but which also are special in that meiotic cell division is found in such organs are again, often,the sites of cancer development and can be classed with the latter group: the surface or lining of small structures which are internal. It seems that tissues which feature fast dividing cells such as the skin, endothelial lining of digestive and respiratory structures, bone marrow, vocal cords, pharyngeal and buccal epithelium, ovaries and testes also tend to more commonly be sites of cancer cell and lesion development. It seems that tissues with a dense capillary networks are somewhat more likely to develop cancer: the brain, bone marrow, breast secretory organells, testes, ovaries, thyroid gland, etc. Concerning the skin: it is known that ultra violet radiation can cause cancer and the use of radiation in the early ages of X-ray use could trigger cancer development.
Some clues can be managed from the use of pharmaceuticals: Methotreaxate,Cyclosporine, and Imuran, some of the initial drugs used to treat cancer intravenously, and which are still used, are also used to treat rheumatoid diseases. Asprin is used to treat rheumatoid diseases and also asprin-like drugs are used to treat ulcerative colitis, a precursor to colon cancer. A number of months ago a study was published that indicated that those taking asprin had less colon cancer. It has been known that those taking NSAIDs including asprin experience fewermyocardial infarctions. Other diseases such as MS are treated with methotrexate so that a view that the underlying disease causes MS, Cancer, and Arteriosclerosis is not without logical merit.
Another important issue is that cancer and arteriosclerosis are commmon. MS is common. Rheumatoid disease is common. Being commom and being caused by the same underlying disease makes them simply manifestations of that underlying disease process, but the cause of that process has therefore the necessity to be common and be able to be expressed early in life (juvelile rheumatoid arthritis, early ischemic cardiac death, for instance) or late in life due to the affect of the underlying disease process as it continues to cause abnormal changes to the body.
There are probably 80 types of cancer; in any event a great number of cell types, and therefore parallel organ involvement . It is not likely that there are 80 causes of cancer. It is statistically more likely that there is one cause for cancer which the protective immune system normally keeps in check, but local conditions cause cancer cell development of the cell types and organs mentioned above because of certain special pathologic conditions at those sites wherein, at times, the immuologic protective mechanisms are not effective enough and so cancer cells develop.
It is well known that patients with dermatomyositis and other rheumatoid diseases exhibit cancer development at a more frequent rate than individuals without such collateral conditions. I believe, as a class, those who have arteriosclerosis develop cancer at a higher rate for sure. It can even be thought, commonsensically, that arteriosclerosis and cancer are part of the aging concept. If a person experiences a clinical entity (myocardial infarction, sudden ischemic cardiac death, aneurysm)caused by arteriosclerosis or cancer of some kind early in life, I suppose one could consider that the individual involved experienced early aging.
Another way of looking at it is as follows: If there is an underlying condition causing arteriosclerosis and cancer, one could simply say that those who contract arteriosclerotic disease or cancer early in life simply have experienced the underlying condition more severely. Since the rheumatic diseases such as dermatomyositis, rheumatoid disease (with arthritis), lupus erythematosis, progressive systemic sclerosis, and Wegener’s granulomatosis, which I feel to be simply the same disease with more severe manifestations, ie. all rheumatoid disease, I believe the cause of such disease would be the cause of cancer. The same can be said of arteriosclerosis. Is it just chance that older people get cancer, arteriosclerosis and rheumatoid diseases: no!
The cause of the underlying condition or the disease is the autoimmune response to a common bacteria causing infection. This infection can be high grade, lower grade and chronic or semi-chronic. Individuals can have various manifestations of respiratory disease such as pharyngitis, sinusitis or pneumonia or even simply bronchitis or middle ear infections. Also infection of the soft tissue or even acne or pyoderma of the skin can be caused by the bacteria in question. The organism is endemic in the human race and the domestic animal group with which humans have been connected with for thousands of years. The bottom line is that individuals, all of us human beings, experience the autoimmune attack by autoantibodies to the bacteria in question and this attack at various levels throughout our lives cause the above problems. The exact mechanisms will be published in a book I am writing titled: Rheumatism, Enigma Unraveled. Truly, all the disease entities and many more are all part of the rheumatism concept as first coined by Galen, the famous Greek physician.
