Lindsay Pasquale
Blog
Cancer
Cancer is a huge topic of research and discussion in today’s world.
Cancer is the process of when the body’s cells begin to divide without stopping
and spread into surrounding tissues. The human body is made up of trillions of
cells and cancer is capable of starting anywhere. When cancer begins to develop,
cells become more abnormal, old or damaged cells survive when they should die,
and new cells form when they are not supposed to. The extra cells divide
without stopping and could form growths, also known as tumors. There are many
cancers that form solid tumors, but cancers of blood such as leukemia’s,
generally do not create solid tumors. Cancerous tumors can spread into or
invade nearby tissues. The tumors grow and some cells break off and travel to
different places in the body.
Cancer is a genetic disease that is caused by changes in genes that
control the way our cells function, including how they grow and divide. Genetic
changes that cause cancer can be passed down through generations. It can also
occur in someone lifetime by certain exposures. Some factors that cause cancer include
exposure to, chemicals in tobacco smoke, or radiation such as ultraviolet rays
from the sun. The three main types of genetic changes that lead to cancer are
proto-oncogenes, tumor suppressor genes, and DNA repair genes. These can be known
as the “drivers” of cancer.
Metastasis is the process by which cancer cells spread to other
parts of the body, and metastatic is when cancer spreads from where it first
started in the body by traveling through the lymph system. Metastatic cells
generally look the same as the original cancer cell under a microscope.
Treatment isn’t always guaranteed to save a life, but it can prolong the lives
of some people. The goal of treatment for metastatic cancer is to control the
growth or to relieve symptoms caused by the cancer. This tumor can cause severe
damage to a person’s body and affect how it functions.
The three stage process of carcinogenesis consist of Initiation, Promotion
and Progression stages. The first step is Initiation, which involves damage to
the genome. It can be caused by damaged DNA, or damages to chromosomes. The driver
of this step is oxidative stress, but other types of damaging events are
capable of occurring. The second stage Promotion, is a long process that starts
with one damaged cell that has a growth advantage. The two key aspects to this
stage is that it is a stage of cellular growth, and of progressive genomic
damage to these multiplying cells, making them unstable. It is driven by
chronic inflammation, which contributes to the growth of a tumor. The last
stage, Progression, is characterized by karyotypic instability and malignant
growth. Molecular targets during this process include; proto-oncogenes,
cellular oncogenes, and tumor suppressor genes. Many of these genetic changes
have been identified in the developing process of colon cancer. The genetic
material of the tumor is more fragile and prone to addition mutations.
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