Maya I love the question. It seems like once or twice a year I’m
shaving my head to help raise money for cancer research and at every
fundraiser, the question seems to come up- Why does the common treatment
for cancer make body hair fall out? The answer is really pretty simple.
It has to do with how different types of Chemotherapy target cancer
cells. There are many different Chemotherapy drugs that work in
different ways, so I will only speak in general terms regarding their
side effects.
Most cells in the human body divide using a process called mitosis.
This process has 5 phases (prophase, prometaphase, metaphase, anaphase,
and telephase). It is preceded by interphase, and results in the cell
dividing, called cytokinesis. When a cell reaches the end of its
lifespan, it gets destroyed in a pre-programed process called apoptosis.
There are many types of cancer (over 200). All types are a result of
the same problem, unregulated cell growth. Cells that divide more
rapidly than apoptosis can regulate- effectively, too much mitosis. The
result is excessive tissue, known as tumors. These tumors can be
localized, or they can spread to surrounding areas through your
lymphatic system or your blood stream.
Many Chemotherapy drugs work by interrupting mitosis. Most
Chemotherapy cannot differentiate between abnormal cancer cells and
normal healthy cells. Because of this, cells that have high mitotic
rates (multiply rapidly) can also be affected by Chemotherapy- cells
like those found in your hair follicles, the lining of your mouth,
stomach, and those found in your bone marrow. The result can be hair
loss, decrease in production of white blood cells (thus why cancer
patients are immune-suppressed), and inflammation of your digestive
tract. In the end, chemotherapy will hopefully kill the cancer cells,
and in the process, unfortunately, potentially cause hair loss. However,
the healthy cells of your hair follicles will repair themselves, making
your hair loss temporary, as is hopefully your cancer!
Bonus Facts:
- Why are there over 200 types of cancer? The answer is easy. There
are over 200 different types of cells in the human body with all of
these having the potential to become cancerous. - Normal healthy cells divide and die as they should. This leads one
to ask, “how many times”? The average number of times normal healthy
cells divide is known as the Hayflick Limit. It was named after Dr.
Leonard Hayflick, who in 1965 noticed that cells divide a specific
number of times before the division stops. The average was between
40-60. (There is one woman, though, who had tissue in her body that
could divide apparently forever: The Woman with Immortal Cells) - If you took every cell in your body, at the time you were born, and
accounted for all the cells they would produce and so on, multiplied
that number by the average time it takes for those cells to die, you get
what is known as the ultimate Hayflick limit. The maximum number of
years you can theoretically live. That would be 120 years! - Christians of the world might find this particularly interesting as
Genesis 6:3- Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with man
forever, for he is mortal; his days will be a hundred and twenty years.”
There are of course several other passages in the Bible related to the
lifespan of humans. Psalms 90:10- “Our days may come to seventy years,
or eighty, if our strength endures”. Psalms was of course a ballad to
God and not a statement from God, so one could always point out that God
would know better… It’s never a good idea to discuss politics and
religion on a site that deals primarily in hard facts
(the editor/overlord of this site usually clips away text that strays
too far into opinionated aspects of politics, religion, or similar), but
the topic is cancer and this is an interesting little tidbit. I think
most people with cancer will at some point think about their own
spirituality one way or the other and these are all interesting tidbits
to discuss, so hopefully this won’t get clipped.
Tags:
Health
