Editing 1217: Cells

{{comic
| number    = 1217
| date      = May 27, 2013
| title     = Cells
| image     = cells.png
| titletext = Now, if it selectively kills cancer cells in a petri dish, you can be sure it's at least a great breakthrough for everyone suffering from petri dish cancer.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Cancer}} is one of the most feared illnesses due to high mortality and a topic visited by Randall in [[:Category:Cancer|past comics]].

Whenever a study finds a hint of a cure, it is hyped up in media as major breakthrough. However, because research is done in a laboratory using cultivated cancer cell assays in petri dishes or well plates, it typically does not take interactions with other parts of a body into consideration, which is ultimately necessary for a patient to survive treatment without harmful side-effects. In order for a cancer treatment to be viable, it would have to primarily target only cancer cells; not healthy ones. Added to this is the issue that major cancer in the body quickly evolves resistance to most treatments, most treatments end up either unused or used as just one in a cocktail of cancer fighting drugs.

Here, [[Randall]] reminds us that there's no need to get excited upon hearing about a drug that kills cancer cells because it may very well harm healthy cells as well, just as a bullet fired from a handgun would. Alternatively, one could interpret the message that, since something as mundane as a handgun is capable of destroying cancer cells, it really is not too impressive for a drug to make that claim.

The title text suggests that even if a drug did only kill cancer cells while leaving healthy cells alone, the human body still has many other complex processes that may render a drug that works in a petri dish insufficient. For instance, a drug that kills cancer cells in a petri dish may not be able to get at cancer cells deep within a human body, or it may have side effects that render it unusable. It is a long way from the laboratory to the pharmacy.

A more humorous interpretation of the title text is that it will only kill cancer cells if they are in petri dishes, and not anywhere else. The naming convention here is similar to "lung cancer", breast cancer", etc., but of course, petri dishes are not normally a part of human organism.{{Citation needed}} Less probably, it might be about cancer cells that originated from, but are not necessarily located within, petri dishes, making the scenario even more oddly specific.

==Transcript==
:[Caption above the panel:]
:When you see a claim that a common drug or vitamin "kills cancer cells in a petri dish," 
:Keep in mind:

:[Cueball in a lab coat stands on a chair next to a desk, pointing a gun at a petri dish. There is a microscope on the desk.]

:[Caption below the panel:]
:So does a handgun.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Cancer]]
[[Category:Scientific research]]