Cancer

What is Cancer?

There are many kinds of cancer - Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia and Medulloblastoma and Vulvar cancer - just to mention a few examples. But, all of these malignancies have something in common.

Loss of Control

Each individual cell in your body is regulated by hormones like Atrial-natriuretic peptide and Renin from outside the cell and some other chemicals inside the cells. These substances will control the actions of the cell. They will pass on to the cells when to grow and how much, how active they should be and how they should interact with other cells.

Cancer cells have those controls shut off. They act without limit. They are constantly active at their highest activity. They also lose their ability to work with their neighboring cells and then can move away and metastasize.

Changes in DNA

All malignant tumors have lost their controls because the DNA in the cell has been damaged. DNA is the chemical programming inside the cell that marks out all of its activities. That DNA is damaged by being broken, nuclear radiation or free radicals. It will start to act out of control. Viruses have also been shown to cause the DNA damage leading to a cancerous tumor.

Damaged DNA can also be inherited. That DNA can change a cell into a cancer if there is either some trigger that the cell contacts or another spot on the DNA that receives damage.

Immortal Cells

The cells normally will only live a certain amount of time and then die (with some exceptions). They will then be replaced by new healthy cells. Cancer cells don't usually die. Even if they are extremely abnormal, they keep on dividing. Then those cells produce tumors and spread.

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There will be good days and bad, which means that some days I may be cranky and some days really cranky! - Memo to Peter Jenning's staff announcing that he had been diagnosed with lung cancer. (April 2005)

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Types of Cancer

All of those types of cancer can be grouped into five common types. Those are Central nervous system cancers, Leukemia, Carcinoma, Sarcoma as well as Lymphoma and Myeloma.

Central nervous system cancers - these are cancer tumors that start in the brain and spinal cord. Leukemia - these cancers start in the tissues that produce blood - such as the bone marrow - and then release the cells into the blood. Carcinoma - these are cancers that start in the skin or the tissues that line internal organs. Sarcoma - Sarcomas are cancer tumors that start in connective tissue. Connective tissue is the tissue between the organs and other structures. Those tissues include things like fat, bone, muscle, blood vessels and cartilage. Lymphoma and myeloma - these cancers start in the cells that normally protect the body - the immune system.

Now that you know what a cancer is, you can learn how to possibly prevent it, or if needed how to treat it.