When you hear the word “cancer,” what comes to mind?
Is it the fear of ever being diagnosed ? Or of watching the person closest to you get the news? Maybe it’s the triumphant feeling of having battled the disease until it’s finally in remission. Or the fear what we always hear about our medical institutions?
Human Anatomy and Medicine – Documentary!!!
Many people associate cancer with the emotions it evokes: the shock, the sadness, the bravery and the exhilaration. Why does cancer develop and why it responds to certain treatments and others die are still a mystery. More so we hear about how diet can make an impact and emotional blockage “conflict in life” can prevent you from being cured?
About 13 million Americans have cancer and more than 1 million are diagnosed every year.
To shed light on the disease, CTCA developed The Anatomy of Cancer, a five-minute video that explains cancer in everyday terms. The goal of the video is to answer the key questions so many people have about cancer.
Introduction to Cancer Biology ….What is cancer?
TEDx – Dr. Glenn Begley – The Complex Biology of Cancer (Why Haven’t We Cured It?)
Cancer is the uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells in the body. In the body, there are trillions of cells with various functions. These cells grow and divide to help the body function properly. Cells die when they become old or damaged, and new cells replace them.
Cancer develops when the body’s normal control mechanism stops working. Old cells do not die and cells grow out of control, forming new, abnormal cells. These extra cells may form a mass of tissue, called a tumor. Some cancers, such as leukemia, do not form tumors.
There are five main categories of cancer:
- Carcinomas begin in the skin or tissues that line the internal organs.
- Sarcomas develop in the bone, cartilage, fat, muscle or other connective tissues.
- Leukemia begins in the blood and bone marrow.
- Lymphomas start in the immune system.
- Central nervous system cancers develop in the brain and spinal cord.
Cancer can occur anywhere in the body. In women, breast cancer is most common. And in men, it’s prostate cancer. Lung cancer and colorectal cancer affect both men and women in high numbers.
Cancer: Incidence and disease burden
Cancer, a condition of abnormal cell growth, is the second most common cause of death in developed countries. In the year 2000, there were some 6.2 million cancer related deaths, accounting for 12% of all deaths globally. In the same year, ten million new cases of cancer were diagnosed (5.3 million in men and 4.7 million in women). And Around one third new cancers could be prevented through the modification of lifestyle factors, particularly smoking, diet and alcohol consumption. Cancer treatment could be more effective if cancer was diagnosed earlier – up to a third of cancer related deaths could be prevented through early detection of cancer.
The cell cycleNormal cell growth in our bodies is carefully regulated so that the number of new cells produced is equal to the number of cells lost naturally through cell death or injury. The body produces new cells in a process known as the cell cycle. Understanding how the cell cycle works can help you understand how tumours form and how cancer treatment works.The cell cycle is a complex sequence of events. The first stage of the cell cycle is a process known as mitosis, in which the cell nucleus (which contains DNA) divides to form two separate cells. Mitosis (denoted M in the cell cycle) is followed by a gap phase (denoted G1) in which the cell prepares enzymes that will allow its DNA to duplicate. The DNA in the cell then divides in the synthesis phase, denoted (S). During a second gap phase (G2), the cell produces proteins that enable it to undergo the first/final stage, mitosis (M). Immediately following mitosis, most cells leave the cell cycle and become dormant (phase denoted G0). Cells will eventually leave the cycle forever and die, which is known as the process of apoptosis.
At any time, cells may fall into one of 3 categories:
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Cancer cells
While cancer cells undergo the same cell cycle process as normal cells, they differ from normal cells because:
- Cancer cells replicate in an uncontrolled manner, meaning that more new cells are produced than die.
- Cancers cells can survive amongst cells of different types, and can therefore move from one part of the body to another (e.g. the kidney to the pancreas). This is known as metastasis. Healthy cells, by contrast, stick with other like cells (e.g. kidney with kidney cell). Therefore, h o w d o e s c a n c e r s p r e a d ?
Tumors form when an excess of cancerous cells build up as a result of the unregulated division of existing cells. Not all tumors are cancerous – those that are localized and cannot move to other sites (i.e. cannot metastasize) are known as benign and are not considered cancers. Malignant tumors, on the other hand, are those that spread, or metastasize, to distant sites in the body; these are considered cancerous.
What causes unregulated cell growth?
Some individuals are said to have a genetic predisposition for cancer; they inherit defective genes, which either fail to switch off cell growth, or initiate growth too easily.
However, most cases of cancer are a result of exposure to so-called carcinogenic factors (i.e. things that cause cancer), such as smoking, obesity and alcohol consumption.
Tumor grade
Tumors can be classified as either benign (localised and not by definition cancers) or malignant (undergoing metastasis and classified as cancerous). Cancerous tumours generally grow rapidly, while benign tumours tend to grow slowly over time (though this is not always the case). Rapid growth can be very dangerous, as cancerous cells can form large tumours and invade numerous body sites. However, cancer is most easily treated when cells are growing rapidly.
Bottomline: How Does Cancer Develop in the Human Body!!
And what are the various types that can occur?
What is the true cause and can you beat it naturally!!