Extra, Extra, Read All About It!
I was planning to report about my string of recent conferences in Europe, and thank the many people who came to attend and show their continuing support of Mirko Beljanski’s research, but then a special delivery arrived. Boxes upon boxes of Mirko Beljanski’s reprinted book, “The Regulation of DNA Replication and Transcription” were delivered to my office yesterday, just in time for the 30th anniversary of the 1983 original publication with Karger! This 3rd Edition has been published with scientific commentary and evidentiary support of Mirko Beljanski’s groundbreaking discoveries, given by Dr. Devra Davis, PhD, MPH.
“Medicine is an ever-changing science. Research and clinical experience are continually expanding our knowledge, in particular our understanding of proper treatment and drug therapy.” For almost 50 years Mirko Beljanski, PhD, studied DNA and RNA biology and made numerous discoveries, most notably how RNA plays a dynamic role in cell regulation.
Within the scientific community at the time of his discovery, the difference between normal and cancerous DNA was considered to be caused by mutations, meaning alterations of the DNA’s primary structure. This explanation is still held to be true: though the focus today is on oncogenes; their harmful activity is considered to derive from mutations that have occurred in normal proto-oncogenes. In contrast, Mirko Beljanski demonstrated that the fundamental difference between normal and cancerous DNA really lies in its secondary structure: the cancerous DNA double helix is permanently opened over large areas, whereas in normal DNA, relaxation only occurs locally and temporarily for replication or gene expression.
Unregulated strand separation, and the ensuing replication and gene expression due to newly exposed initiation sites, account for the characteristic properties of the cancer cell, namely its enhanced multiplication and spurious protein synthesis.
This book focuses on how Epigenetics has become one of the most dynamic areas in biomedical science and highlights Beljanski’s premise that “inherited genetic information alone cannot fully explain all phenotypic characteristics of live organisms” and environmental factors must be taken into consideration as they can affect the capacity of illness/cancer to proliferate.
“Recent studies affirm the value of the ideas that Beljanski elucidated in the last century. The basic processes of DNA replication and transcription are now understood to control whether or not genetic information is damaged or repaired, and when and how it is released or transformed. Understanding that cancer and other chronic diseases arise as a result of complex gene-environment interactions that take place at the level of the epi-genome provides a comprehensive way of linking information about the ways that biology and chemistry influence whether or not cells become malignant and how and when they can be repaired or eliminated.”
Although Mirko Beljanski passed away in 1998, his legacy lives on in through his research, his teachings, and his products. I invite you to purchase the 3rd Edition of “The Regulation of DNA Replication and Transcription” from the Beljanski Foundation at 10% off the listed price. “Those who share our concerns with devising better ways to treat cancer will benefit from reading this work, as well as those determined to develop methods to prevent the occurrence of disease altogether.” – Devra Davis, PhD, MPH.