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Life Sciences => Physiology & Medicine => Topic started by: thedoc on 31/01/2012 15:31:26

Title: Why don't people get muscle cancer?
Post by: thedoc on 31/01/2012 15:31:26

Why don't people get muscle cancer?  It seems to be the only tissue that is immune.

Thanks
Patrick W Couzens
Independence Missouri USA
Asked by Patrick Couzens


                                        Visit the webpage for the podcast in which this question is answered. (http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/podcasts/show/20120129/)

 

Title: Re: Do people get muscle cancer?
Post by: cheryl j on 23/11/2011 06:25:22

I dont know for sure that they don't generate tumors, but I don't think muscle cells divide and replace themselves like epithelial cells do, and when muscle cells are damaged, they are replaced by scar tissue. Muscle cells do get bigger, but its by increasing the number of actin and myosin filaments inside them.

Title: Do people get muscle cancer?
Post by: chris on 23/11/2011 08:46:30

People do develop muscle cancers; they're referred to as sarcomas. In the case of skeletal muscle they are known as rhabdomyosarcomas. They can also arise from cardiac muscle, producing an atrial myxoma, and smooth muscle, which gives rise to a leiomyosarcoma.

You are right to highlight their relative rarity - they account for only about 1% of all cancers - but they are relatively more common in men (for reasons unknown) and also constitute a higher proportion, at about 8%, of childhood cancers.

Anatomically they occur more frequently on the lower limbs than elsewhere, followed by upper limbs, torso and then head and neck in descending order of frequency.

Chris

Title: Why don't people get muscle cancer?
Post by: CliffordK on 23/11/2011 08:57:14

There are muscle cancers.

The Uterus is essentially a muscle, and does occasionally get tumors and cancers. 

Skeletal muscle will also get cancers called rhabdomyosarcoma (http://www.cancer.org/Cancer/Rhabdomyosarcoma/DetailedGuide/rhabdomyosarcoma-what-is-rhabdomyosarcoma).  However, apparently rhabdomyosarcoma is more common in children than in adults.  

I think Cheryl is right that the reason that rhabdomyosarcoma occurs mainly in children is that is when the muscle cells are actively dividing.  As adults, they generally slow down or stop dividing.

Many cancers are in organs that are exposed to toxins such as the lungs & liver, as well as organs with rapidly dividing cells as in the skin and mucosa.  The skeletal muscles are somewhat isolated from these issues.

Title: Do people get muscle cancer?
Post by: Stephany on 26/11/2011 19:08:08

I wonder if a muscle training is able to decrease the possibility of a muscle cancer.

Title: Do people get muscle cancer?
Post by: chris on 27/11/2011 10:41:45

I doubt it, Stephany, in much the same way that lung training (known as breathing) actually increases the risk of lung cancer!

These cancers are triggered genetically.

chris

Title: Do people get muscle cancer?
Post by: Nizzle on 29/11/2011 08:14:33

Just an extra:
Sarcomas are connective tissue cancer, ie bone cancer, muscle cancer, fat cell cancer...
Sarcomas are among the most difficult to treat with one of the highest mortality rates of all cancer types 5-years post diagnosis.

And I guess the reason why they're more frequent in men than women is because muscles are more frequent in men than women. More muscle cells, more chance one goes rampant and forms a neoplasm.

In humans, there is literally NO tissue immune for cancer.

Title: Do people get muscle cancer?
Post by: cheryl j on 30/11/2011 00:47:03

But muscle cells arent connective tissue, they are a separate tissue called muscle tissue. Muscles themselves have connective tissue sheaths and are connected to tendons and ligaments, which are also connective tissue. So are the sarcomas in the connective tissue around or near by muscle cells?

Title: Do people get muscle cancer?
Post by: Nizzle on 30/11/2011 13:47:07

I'm sorry about the confusion, with connective tissue, I actually mean all tissue types that are derived from the mesoderm germ cell layer..

It's a language thing see, I'm not a native English speaker :)

Title: Do people get muscle cancer?
Post by: chris on 30/11/2011 23:22:02

Quote from: Nizzle on 29/11/2011 08:14:33

And I guess the reason why they're more frequent in men than women is because muscles are more frequent in men than women. More muscle cells, more chance one goes rampant and forms a neoplasm.

I'm sceptical about this claim. It assumes that muscle bulk is proportional to cell count. Muscles hypertropy as well as potentially increase in cell number. I've not seen any evidence that men have more muscle cells than women. Do you have a reference for that?

Thanks

Chris

P.S. You say that no tissue is cancer immune, but hair doesn't get cancer ;)

Title: Do people get muscle cancer?
Post by: CliffordK on 01/12/2011 00:22:06

Quote from: chris on 30/11/2011 23:22:02

P.S. You say that no tissue is cancer immune, but hair doesn't get cancer ;)

Hair technically isn't living tissue, so it would be difficult for it to have cancer.

However, hair follicles, the growth center of hair, is able to have cancer.

Hairy moles is also a risk factor for melanoma.

Title: Do people get muscle cancer?
Post by: Nizzle on 01/12/2011 07:14:20

Quote from: chris on 30/11/2011 23:22:02

I'm sceptical about this claim. It assumes that muscle bulk is proportional to cell count. Muscles hypertropy as well as potentially increase in cell number. I've not seen any evidence that men have more muscle cells than women. Do you have a reference for that?

Thanks

Chris

P.S. You say that no tissue is cancer immune, but hair doesn't get cancer ;)

Hmm, you're probably right about the nr. of muscle cells. Couldn't find a reference about gender differences in muscle hyperplasia to either confirm or refute.

And as Clifford already stated, you can get Follicular Melanoma (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15365365) which is hair cancer..

Title: None
Post by: Rob on 16/10/2012 11:19:39

Despite the fact that the lens epithelium divides throughout life, there has never been a reported case of lens cancer. The reason remains a mystery and oddly receives almost no attention from the cancer research community.
Look it up: you won't find much.
The following reference is freely available:
Indian J Ophthalmol. 2003 Dec;51(4):297-301

Title: None
Post by: Just a random commenter on 19/01/2015 16:34:24

How does it happen though? thats what I'd like to know