Cancer
Cancer is a class of diseases characterized by uncontrolled cell division and the ability of these cells to invade other tissues, either by direct growth into adjacent tissue (invasion) or by migration of cells to distant sites (metastasis). This unregulated growth is caused by damage to DNA, resulting in mutations to vital genes that control cell division, among other functions. One or more of these mutations, which can be inherited or acquired, can lead to uncontrolled cell division and tumor formation. Tumor ("swelling" in Latin) refers to any abnormal mass of tissue, but may be either malignant (cancerous) or benign (noncancerous). Only malignant tumors are capable of invading other tissues or metastasizing.
Related Topics:
Disease - Cell division - Tissues - Metastasis - DNA - Mutation - Genes - Tumor - Latin - Malignant - Benign
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Cancer can cause many different symptoms, depending on the site and character of the malignancy and whether there is metastasis. A definitive diagnosis usually requires the microscopic examination of tissue obtained by biopsy. Once diagnosed, cancer is usually treated with surgery, chemotherapy and/or radiation.
Related Topics:
Microscopic - Biopsy - Surgery - Chemotherapy - Radiation
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If untreated, most cancers eventually cause death; cancer is one of the leading causes of death in developed countries. Most cancers can be treated and many cured, especially if treatment begins early.
Related Topics:
Death - Developed countries
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Many forms of cancer are associated with environmental factors, which may be avoidable. Smoking tobacco leads to more cancers than any other environmental factor.
Related Topics:
Environmental factor - Smoking tobacco
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Latest news on cancer
Cancer spread 'happens earlier'
Apparently "normal" cells may carry cancer to new sites long before a tumour develops, scientists say.
Bowel cancer tests 'cut deaths'
Results from a bowel cancer detection pilot in Fife suggest screening could save 150 lives a year in Scotland.
Toddler cancer spotted via e-mail
A toddler in Florida is diagnosed with cancer after a Manchester woman spotted the early warning signs in a picture.
Cancer sufferer awarded £130,000 in asbestos case
A CANCER sufferer who is terminally ill won a £130,000 damages award yesterday.
Cancer man wins £130,000 in asbestos case
A CANCER sufferer who is terminally ill won a £130,000 damages award yesterday.
Yew cuttings help cancer research
Tree trimmings used to make cancer drugs
Cancer patients 'failed by NHS'
A survey of cancer patients, carers and professionals suggests Scotland's NHS is failing those with the disease.
Cancer costs
'I have to skip my meals to pay for medication'
Cancer patients 'left suicidal'
Cancer patients are more likely to think they would be "better off dead" than the rest of the population, a study shows.
Contagious cancer
The April issue of Harper's had a fascinating article about the evolution of contagious cancer. The story, now readable online, begins in Tasmania where cancer appeared to be passing between Sarcophilus harrisii, commonly known as Tasmanian devils. As it turns out, "Devil Tumor" isn't the only contagious cancer. From Harper's: Under ordinary circumstances, cancer is an individuated phenomenon. Its onset is determined partly by genetics, partly by environment, partly by entropy, partly by the remorseless tick-tock of time, and (almost) never by the transmission of some tumorous essence. It arises from within (usually) rather than being imposed from without. It pinpoints single victims (usually) rather than spreading through populations. Cancer might be triggered by a carcinogenic chemical, but it isn?t itself poisoning. It might be triggered by a virus, but it isn?t fundamentally viral. Cancer differs also from heart disease and cirrhosis and the other lethal forms of physiological breakdown; uncontrolled cell reproduction, not organ dilapidation, is the problem. Such uncontrolled reproduction begins when a single cell accumulates enough mutations to activate certain growth-promoting genes (scientists call them oncogenes) and to inactivate certain protections (tumor suppressor genes) that are built into the genetic program of every animal and plant. The cell ignores instructions to limit its self-replication, and soon it becomes many cells, all of them similarly demented, all bent on self-replication, all heedless of duty and proportion and the larger weal of the organism. That first cell is (almost always) a cell of the victim?s own body. So cancer is reinvented from scratch on a case-by-case basis, and this individuation, this personalization, may be one of the reasons that it seems so frightening and solitary. But what makes it even more solitary for its victims is the idea, secretly comforting to others, that cancer is never contagious. That idea is axiomatic, at least in the popular consciousness. Cancer is not an infectious disease. And the axiom is (usually) correct. But there are exceptions. Those exceptions point toward a broader reality that scientists have begun to explore: Cancers, like species, evolve. And one way they can evolve is toward the capacity to be transmitted between individuals. Contagious cancer (Harper's, thanks Vann Hall!)...
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