Some forms of cancer develop when two of the total of 46 DNA threads break apart and when blueprints for important proteins are located at the sites of breakage.

Repair functions in the cell make sure that the broken DNA threads reconnect. Unfortunately, sometimes they are unable to recognize which fragments belong to each other. As a result, the wrong DNA threads are often connected.

The effect of this is that the disrupted blueprints are reconnected wrongly. The first part of the blueprint for the protein A ends with the second part of the blueprint for protein B, and vice versa. What is generated is a protein that does not work correctly, if at all.

In a figurative way, this could be compared to what would happen if pages with two different recipes were swapped in a cook book. The pizza dough is to be sprinkled with almonds and chocolate flakes, and for chocolate cookies, cheese and salami is suggested as a coating.

For the body cell, however, the incorrectly composed protein “recipe” has grave consequences; usually, it is even fatal.