Wednesday, 4 September 2013

What is Cancer?

Cancer 


Cancer is a class of diseases characterized by out of control cell growth. There are many different types of cancer, and each is classified by the type of cell that is initially affected. Cancer harm your body when damaged cells divide uncontrollably to form lumps or masses of tissue called tumors [ except in the case of leukemia where cancer prohibits normal blood function by abnormal cell division in the blood stream].  The tumors can grow and interfere with the digestive, nervous, and circulatory systems, and they can release hormones that alter body function. Tumors that stay in one spot and demonstrate limited growth are generally considered to be benign. There are more dangerous, or malignant, tumors form when two things occur:  number one, a cancerous cell manages to move throughout the body using the blood or lymph systems,  destroying healthy tissue in a process called invasion; number two, that cell manages to divide and grow, making new blood vessels to feed itself in a process called angiogenesis. When a tumor successfully spreads to other parts of the body and grows, invading and destroying other healthy tissues, it is said to have metastasized, and the result is a serious condition that is very difficult to treat. 


 Causes of Cancer 

Cancer is ultimately the result of cells that uncontrollably grow and don't die. Normal cells in the body follow an orderly path of growth, division, and death. Programmed cell death is called apoptosis, and when this process breaks down, cancer begins to form. Unlike regular cells, cancer cells don't experience programmatic death and instead continue to grow and divide. This leads to a mass of abnormal cells that grows out control.


The researchers say this discovery is important because cancer mortality is mainly due to metastatic tumors, those that grow from cells that have traveled from their original site to another part of the body. Only 10 percent of cancer deaths are caused by the primary tumors. 

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