Entry # 9: Chromsome 17: Death

In this chapter, the author focuses on cancer and talks about cells and how they sometimes reproduce themselves when they are not supposed. As a result, we have cancer. A gene called TP53, which is located on the short arm of chromosome 17 is responsible for suppressing rogue cancer cells. this gene was first discovered by David lane, he recognized this as a tumor suppressor. Mutation in the TP53 gene is almost the defining feature of a lethal cancer; in fifty-five percent of all human cancers, TP53 is broken. People with one faulty version of TP53 out of two they inherit have a ninety-five percent chance of cancer at a usually an early age. the story of P53 and the oncogenes challenges the argument that genetic research is necessarily dangerous and should be curtailed. The author also explains that in various types of cancers, TP53 is mutated very early which explains why chemotherapy and radiation therapy is not always effective. Apoptosis can also be useful in preventing other kinds of mutiny than cancer, such as genetic distortion of the kind induced by transposons.