Cancer Essay, Research Paper

Cancer

Hippocrates gave cancer ( Greek for crab ) its name because it spread through tissues like the movements of a crab.

At first oncogenes, genes with highly specialized functions were said to be the ” cancer genes “. This of course was wrong as oncogenes promote normal cell division and growth as well as the repair and replacement of damaged cells.

Cancer starts when one out of as many as one trillion cells goes awry. When first damaged the cell loses its external controls and then the internal controls defect. From this it tries to develop a new set of internal controls by multiplying at a rapid pace which spreads colonies throughout the body.

Cancer has been said to have two steps: mutation and promotion.

During mutation the cell has been hit and permanently damaged; the cell is primed and ready to be molded known as a cancer cell

Promotion is the cell division of the cancerous cell which then loses its controls- it then compensates itself by becoming an autonomous body

Cancer can take 10 – 15 years to become fully developed, this depending on the cause or the aggressiveness of the tumour. Mature cells tend to progress slower.

Metastases is the final stage when cancer is spread through the body by blood vessels or lymphatic channels. Single metastases can be cured usually by surgery or radiotherapy and multiple metastsases is cured by chemotherapy .

Metastases follows a path- from the primary tumour to a specific organ or organs. The organ metastases effects the most is the lungs since all the blood in the body travels there.