Gender Discrimination in Government Funding for Cancer Research

[kandrathe]

I was responding specifically to Alarm's point, about the imbalance of moneys between the reproductive cancers, ie, cancers specific to men and women.

I figured that was the case. No drama.

As to the 50+ conversation, the number of deaths due to cancer as life expectancy has increased have likewise increased. The longer you live, the more senescent cells you get which are likely the cells that cause cancers to form (a senescent cells is a cell that had divided so many times that the telomeres are gone and the cell automatically stops dividing, but it doesn't die off like it should).

By definition, a senescent cell cannot spread cancer since it has become "immortal" until it dies by other causes. It will no longer divide, which is how cancer spreads. But, I read, "The robust secretion of these growth factors by senescent cells can stimulate and sustain the proliferation of nearby premalignant or malignant cells. ... Hence, the increased risk of incurring cancer with age could in part be a consequence of the increased number of SASP-expressing senescent cells during aging."

So in this case, you would expect both men and women to roughly equal out.

There is this whole Y chromosome thing that makes men quite different from women in many ways. The major difference being an endocrine system pumping us full of testosterone, as opposed to estrogen, and progesterone.
I don't feel it can be assumed disease expressions, or drug reactions would ever be equal between genders. They might, and they may not. I'd examine it with science.

Probably the bulk of disparity is due to the extraordinary success of the breast cancer awareness programs over the past few decades. It strikes earlier than others, can be difficult to identify early in soft tissues, and without early intervention is very lethal. Whereas, almost every white European male will get prostate cancer eventually, but it is often past 65 years old, slow growing and something else will kill them before the cancer metastases.

If you look at all other types of cancers, the only ones of difference between the sexes *ARE* the sex based cancers.

From examining the incidence rates, only Breast cancer is definitively female.

Soft tissue incl heart, Genital system, Endocrine, and Myeloma are marginally equally weighted. *All* others have more significance for men (>= 5%)



Oral cavity & pharynx - men 72%
Digestive system - men 58%
Respiratory system - men 55%
Bones & joints - men 57%
Soft tissue incl heart - men 53%
Skin - men 68%
Breast - women 98%
Genital system - women 53%
Urinary system - men 69%
Eyes - men 54%
Brain & nervous system - men 57%
Endocrine system - women 52%
Lymphoma - men 56%
Myeloma - men 52%
Leukemia - men 58%
Other - men 55%

Overall 2017 - Estimated Deaths by cancer
Men = 318,420 (53%) Women = 282, 500 (47%)