Biomedical expert in cancer research gives talk at UM on cancer and evolution

Prof Chung-I Wu, a renowned biomedical expert in cancer research and a UM Macao Distinguished Visiting Scholar, today (19 December) gave a talk at the University of Macau (UM), titled ‘Evolution in action – Why is cancer different from other diseases and is that bad?’ The talk attracted many UM faculty members, students, and researchers.

According to Prof Wu, cancer is unique among diseases as the treatment has not been highly successful despite the enormous investment. One reason for the lack of success is that society has refused to accept evolution as the foundation of biology. In the same vein, the medical establishment does not see cancers as evolutionary phenomena. Importantly, while most diseases represent the degeneracy of some normal functions, cancer represents evolution in action when tissues gain, instead of lose, new functions that benefit tumours at the expense of the individual. He presented a perspective connecting cancer to evolution and then a proposal of treatment using this perspective.

Prof Wang San Ming of the Faculty of Health Sciences gave a speech at the event, in which he expressed hope that new breakthroughs in cancer treatment would be available in the near future.  

Source: Rector’s Office