“Cancer may be an inevitable stage in the process of human life”, said CAE Member Fan Daiming, Director of State Key Laboratory of Cancer Biology, while delivering a keynote speech at the “Yunnan Science Forum” on August 21, 2013. Fan pointed out that, researchers should study cancer from a comprehensive perspective. That is to say, while exploring cancerous key molecular events on local organs, the overall body regulation changes of the cancer patients should be studied. Fan also suggested that new anti-cancer approaches and solutions be sought from embryology principles.

“Yunnan Science Forum” is a large-scale non-profit public activity in the field of science and technology, which invites world-renowned scientists to Yunnan and make presentations once a month. So far, a total of 44 guests with high national and international reputation such as Yang Zhenning, Wan Gang, Qiu Chengtong and Yuan Longping, etc., have given academic lectures for this event in Kunming, Yunnan. And these lectures covered fields ranging from physics, new materials, solar energy, new energy vehicles, to medical sciences and equipment manufacturing, etc.

And the fact that CAE Member Fan Daiming, a famous cancer expert in China, came to make a guest presentation at the “Yunnan Science Forum”, aroused heated discussions on tumor in the medical community of Yunnan Province.

“People should change their understanding and concept about tumor”, Fan said. Malignant tumor is the biggest disease threatening human health and life, and has become a world-wide problem yet to be resolved after a hundred years of continuous researches, because it’s highly generalized, covers all age groups, the treatment of which is so costly, rarely effective, or even proves to be totally in vain. The more than one hundred years of battling against tumor has become a nationwide war that is the most devoted, the most widespread, the most heroic and lasted the longest time, in the documented human history. However, the number of people who have been diagnosed with malignant tumor in the world has been increasing year by year, and the corresponding treatment has been getting increasingly difficult.

“However, I think tumor may be an inevitable stage of human life”, Fan Daiming said. “If a person lives so long as to the age of 120 or even 150, I believe a tumor would grow on him anyway”.

Fan pointed out that, cancer was a systemic disease, and could be viewed as an evil consequence brought about by the overall adjustment disorder of the human body which gave rise of local cancerous change in certain key molecules. And this evil consequence would, in turn, have an impact on the whole human body, thus forming a vicious circle and in the end killing people. Therefore, Fan argued that, tumor researchers should not only explore the key molecular events of local organs on human body, but also explore the overall regulation changes on the human body of cancer patients, and closely connect the two.

Fan also proposed that “cancer is a kind of anti-aging disease”. He said that, the most important form of “fighting back” of human body against aging is to strengthen the cell proliferation function, which could take place either on the whole body or locally. And the latter turns out to be tumor. Fan held that “tumor appears because it may be useful to the body in some aspects”.

Fan believed that this cell proliferation mechanism to combat aging resembled performances in the embryonic period. “The same cell could turn into an embryo through division in ten months, and it could turn into a tumor through division in ten months as well”. “The same process could result in absolutely opposite things, with one creating a life and the other taking a life away”. Also, many biological properties of tumor tissues are quite similar to embryo cells. In this sense, the local cell proliferation of cancer patients could be seen as an anti-aging process on the whole human body in order to “renew one’s youth” through local combating efforts. Therefore, understanding of embryology knowledge would undoubtedly help to shed light on seeking new approaches for tumor treatment.

Fan Daiming is a renowned expert in gastroenterology in China. He is a Member and Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), President of the Fourth Military Medical University, as well as Director of State Key Laboratory of Cancer Biology. He is the awardee of Chang Jiang Scholars Program, and a Chief Scientist of National Basic Research Program of China (973 Project). In addition, Prof. Fan serves as President of the Chinese Society of Gastroenterology, Vice President of the Chinese Anti-Cancer Association, as well as Council Member and Secretary-General of the International Affairs Committee of Asian Pacific Association of Gastroenterology. Also, he served as Chairman of the World Congress of Gastroenterology and Asian Pacific Digestive Week held in 2013. (From chinanews.com, by Gu Yihang, August 21, 2013; translated by Liu Chang)