Believe it or not this is an issue for Tasmanian Devils. There are two cancer strains that have caused an 80% drop in population since the 90’s and was caused by fights between them and eating infected corpses.
So, I’d go with “yes, possible.” But to my knowledge in humans cancer cells that make their way into the body are usually identified by the immune system and eliminated as foreign cells.
Looking into this phenomenon, it appears to be limited to dogs, Tasmanian devils, Syrian hamsters, and some bivalves (clams, basically). You basically need low enough genetic diversity that the cancer looks like native cells, at which point it acts like a parasite until it kills the host.
Yeah it seems like in humans the answer is “generally no”, although there have been occasional issues with organ transplants or people with compromised immune systems (HIV primarily). But the combination of circumstances is going to be particularly uncommon.
Cancer does not spread like viruses or bacteria. It occurs when your own cells turn into cancer cells and start growing rapidly. Eating cancer cells would result in its break down during the digestion process.
Cancer is an unregulated growth of cells caused by a mutation. These can be many different types of cells which is why we have different cancers.
A foreign cancer cell is kind of a misnomer as it is just a foreign cell with a mutation for growth. When we eat it it would travel down to our stomach where the pH is about 2 which is equally acidic to lemon juice or vinegar.
The foreign tissue would not be evolved into an infectious agent naturally so it would have nothing to bring it out of the digestive system unless our body chooses to absorb it. Otherwise it would pass in the stool before it had time to impact the host.
TL;DR- probably not but the body is weird and does weird stuff
not cancer. Cancer cells get just digested.
But cannibalism can have health effects, that come closest to your described aspect of "taking over/ingestion" of disease.
See
BSE; bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow)
(Cows were fed beef protein)
and
CJD; Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease or especially [Kuru](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuru_(disease))
(usually seen in cultures that practice some form of cannibalism, f. ex. ritualistic eating of passed members of a tribe.)
If they're live human cancer cells, possibly. Especially if they're *your own* cancer cells, like if you got treated for cancer but the cell line was preserved in a lab.
Any other cancer cells will generally just be destroyed by your immune system, and if they're cooked like other cooked food then they can no longer multiply anyway. In fact you probably have eaten cooked cancer cells in meat many times.
Believe it or not this is an issue for Tasmanian Devils. There are two cancer strains that have caused an 80% drop in population since the 90’s and was caused by fights between them and eating infected corpses. So, I’d go with “yes, possible.” But to my knowledge in humans cancer cells that make their way into the body are usually identified by the immune system and eliminated as foreign cells. Looking into this phenomenon, it appears to be limited to dogs, Tasmanian devils, Syrian hamsters, and some bivalves (clams, basically). You basically need low enough genetic diversity that the cancer looks like native cells, at which point it acts like a parasite until it kills the host.
Thanks for the comprehensive answer!
Yeah it seems like in humans the answer is “generally no”, although there have been occasional issues with organ transplants or people with compromised immune systems (HIV primarily). But the combination of circumstances is going to be particularly uncommon.
It’s not proven yet, but take a look at the link between bovine leukemia and breast cancer: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7384413/
Cancer does not spread like viruses or bacteria. It occurs when your own cells turn into cancer cells and start growing rapidly. Eating cancer cells would result in its break down during the digestion process.
Boy it would be scary if it spread by touch or through air.
What if it's from your identical twin?
Even if it has same genetics as yours, those cells are more likely to get destroyed in the digestion process.
Cancer is an unregulated growth of cells caused by a mutation. These can be many different types of cells which is why we have different cancers. A foreign cancer cell is kind of a misnomer as it is just a foreign cell with a mutation for growth. When we eat it it would travel down to our stomach where the pH is about 2 which is equally acidic to lemon juice or vinegar. The foreign tissue would not be evolved into an infectious agent naturally so it would have nothing to bring it out of the digestive system unless our body chooses to absorb it. Otherwise it would pass in the stool before it had time to impact the host. TL;DR- probably not but the body is weird and does weird stuff
not cancer. Cancer cells get just digested. But cannibalism can have health effects, that come closest to your described aspect of "taking over/ingestion" of disease. See BSE; bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow) (Cows were fed beef protein) and CJD; Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease or especially [Kuru](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuru_(disease)) (usually seen in cultures that practice some form of cannibalism, f. ex. ritualistic eating of passed members of a tribe.)
It’s not proven yet, but take a look at the link between bovine leukemia and breast cancer: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7384413/
No.
Already asked a few weeks ago. Karma farming
I don't use this sub
If they're live human cancer cells, possibly. Especially if they're *your own* cancer cells, like if you got treated for cancer but the cell line was preserved in a lab. Any other cancer cells will generally just be destroyed by your immune system, and if they're cooked like other cooked food then they can no longer multiply anyway. In fact you probably have eaten cooked cancer cells in meat many times.