cancer = the cell ?

A very difficult question to answer unless someone is familair with this field.

The parragraph refers to "the cell differentiation process".

I suggest the Authors are taliking about the changes that makes a normal cell different from a cancerous cell.
I suggest that the "cell" refered to here is neither cancerouse or normal but something in between. The cell is undergoing a gradual change from normal to cancerouse.

The key here is what is meant by the "differentiation process"

No, what it's saying is that IL25 production is natural and normal during cell replication. The roll of IL25 is to weed out and destroy atypical mamary cells as they are being produced. The intent here is to enhance the natural IL25 production when breast cancer is present (meaning that the natural immune response has already failed) with the hope that the increased IL25 production will destroy the breast cancer cells as they form.

I don't think they are suggesting that this could prevent breast cancer in any way, but that it might be a valuable therapeutic tool for treating existing breast cancers.

Fennel is supposed to increase the natural defense mechanism against cancer in the cells.

Some people lack this natural mechansim.

I just reread the article more closely and the hope is that enhancing IL25 will weed out tumor cells as they form AND destroy atypical cancer cells nearby.

Thank you all.

Especially thank JPB for her sharp-eyed professional opinion.

This probably will seem like a naive question but do atypical cells formed in any part of the body become cancer cells, JPB? Put another way, are cancer cells just good cells gone bad?

Only sometimes. Cell production is an imperfect process. Like any manufacturing plant, sometimes we make a cell that doesn't meet the quality specs. The body recognizes this bad cell as atypical and It's removed by the immune system, the quality geeks of the body. The manufacturing plant that is our body keeps cranking out cells and the few bad ones are removed in an on-going process.

A couple things can go wrong with this scenario. The production line can get wacky, or the QC department can fall down on the job. Sometimes atypical cell production proliferates and the immune system can't keep up. Other times the immune system breaks down and the atypical cells are allowed to stay in circulation where they can then divide, producing more atypical cells. Eventually the atypical cells take hold and can begin to form a mass and/or invade other organs.

Here's a simplistic diagram that shows normal cell replication and atypical cell proliferation which ultimately leads to cancer.

So is it fair to say that cancers, all cancers are really not invasive foreigners like a virus, but rather they are of us, us simply gone wacky?

yes. Triggered by some genetic, environmental, viral/bacterial, dietary, radioactive, hormonal, etc., stimulus.

Is that graphic accurate in the sense that 3 or 4 mutations lead to an uncontrolled growth? If it is, can these mutations last for some time in the body without going into explosive growth? Do the mutated/mutating cells operate on the same time schedule as normal cells?

How fast is this whole process of cell division? Does everyone make bad cells all the time or is it a heightened response to a medical weakness/environmental stimulus?

All of the above.

I don't know that 3rd and 4th level mutations are any more indicative of a malignancy than a 2nd mutation in some cases and an 8th or 9th in others. It's possible, but I don't think so. It all depends on how out of balance the cell replication cycle is with the b and t cells (specialized white blood cells) that are tasked with destroying them. That's the difference between aggressive cancers and cancers that are slower in developing/establishing. Even same-type cancers (breast cancer, for instance) can behave differently in different people. There are classes of cancers, grades within classes, hormone resistant and non-resistant... too many variables to draw any sweeping generalizations.

I've long believed that stress is a major contributor to whatever disease we are at risk to develop. I also think we are all at risk of some diseases over others (based on genetics, environment, etc.). I've known many people who suffered through an extremely stressful event (critical illness of a loved one, for instance) only to become ill themselves within a short time. Some folks/families are prone to heart attacks or ulcers while others are predisposed to cancers. Strokes and blood cancers (leukemia, multiple myeloma, other lymphomas) run in my family. I'll probably never have a heart attack. My B's family, on the other hand, is full of heart disease and there's no history of cancer. He'll probably never get cancer unless he gets exposed to high doses of benzene or some other highly carcinogenic substance.

It's like a detective story but with way more twists. Do you know of a/any good books, not too damn technical, that explains all this, sort of a Cancer for Dummies?

It's not a book, but I pulled that graphic from the National Cancer Institute's "Understanding Cancer Series:Cancer" It's 61 slides with simple explanations.

http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/understandingcancer/cancer