• Question: Out of all the cancers that exist, what made you study liver?

    Asked by Luanna_ to Nicholas on 6 Mar 2017. This question was also asked by Faye sends.
    • Photo: Nicholas Younger

      Nicholas Younger answered on 6 Mar 2017:

      I think the liver is amazing because it’s the only organ in the body that can totally regrow without becoming damaged. If you take out half of your liver it will grow back and know exactly what shape to take and when to stop growing and I think that’s the coolest thing ever! How does it know when to stop!?

      BUT! If you ask your liver to repair itself over and over again because it’s always damaged – by alcohol for example – then the instructions that tell it to fix itself can get damaged and if they can’t fix themselves then the cells don’t know when to stop growing and you get cancer.

      If you look at the chemical changes in cancer cells they look very similar to when it’s repairing itself, and I want to know if we could fix the instructions and make the cancer fix itself.

Comments