Haloo guys…una do well o….i hope we are all doing good oo jare…. Earlier in october, In respect to cancer awareness (the walks,talks e.t.c), i decided to carry on a little survey as to know how many people know what exactly cancer is.
We see people post regularly on Facebook,insta and other social networks in respect to it, but Most of us only know there is a disease called cancer and it’s deadly,that’s it! We do not know what exactly it is all about. Everyone just kept saying it’s a disease,yea it’s a disease and then………???
Don’t worry,relax,i am here for you,so you just soak it all in…….
Cancer is a collection of related disease. There are many kinds of cancer, all cancers start because abnormal cells grow out of control. Cancer can start almost anywhere in the human body, which is made up of trillions of cells. Normally, human cells grow and divide to form new cells as the body needs them. When cells grow old or become damaged, they die, and new cells take their place.
Cancer starts when cells in a part of the body start to grow out of control. Cancer cell growth is different from normal cell growth. Instead of dying, cancer cells continue to grow and form new, abnormal cells. Cancer cells can also invade (grow into) other tissues, something that normal cells can’t do. Growing out of control and invading other tissues are what makes a cell a cancer cell.
cancer cells are able to ignore signals that normally tell cells to stop dividing or that begin a process known as programmed cell death, or apoptosis, which the body uses to get rid of unneeded cells.Cancer cells often travel to other parts of the body where they can grow and form new tumors that crowd out normal tissue. This happens when the cancer cells get into the body’s bloodstream or lymph vessels. The process of cancer spreading is called metastasis.
No matter where a cancer may spread, it’s always named based on the place where it started. For instance, colon cancer that has spread to the liver is called metastatic colon cancer, not liver cancer. In this case, cancer cells taken from the liver would be the same as those in the colon. They would be treated in the same ways, too.
Cancer is a genetic disease—that is, it is caused by changes to genes that control the way our cells function, especially how they grow and divide.
Genetic changes that cause cancer can be inherited from our parents. They can also arise during a person’s lifetime as a result of errors that occur as cells divide or because of damage to DNA caused by certain environmental exposures.
The genetic changes that contribute to cancer tend to affect three main types of genes—pro to-oncogene,timor suppressor gene, and DNA repair genes. These changes are sometimes called “drivers” of cancer.
Proto-oncogenes are involved in normal cell growth and division. However, when these genes are altered in certain ways or are more active than normal, they may become cancer-causing genes (or oncogenes), allowing cells to grow and survive when they should not.
Tumor suppressor genes are also involved in controlling cell growth and division. Cells with certain alterations in tumor suppressor genes may divide in an uncontrolled manner.
DNA repair genes are involved in fixing damaged DNA. Cells with mutations in these genes tend to develop additional mutations in other genes. Together, these mutations may cause the cells to become cancerous.A tumor is an abnormal lump or collection of cells, but not all tumors are cancer.
Not every change in the body’s tissues is cancerTumors that aren’t cancer are called benign. Benign tumors can cause problems – they can grow very large and press on healthy organs and tissues. But they can’t grow into (invade) other tissues. And they can’t spread to other parts of the body (metastasize). These tumors are seldom life threatening.There are more than 100 types of cancer.
Types of cancer are usually named for the organs or tissues where the cancers form. For example, lung cancer starts in cells of the lung, and brain cancer starts in cells of the brain.
Ah Ah!…i see you saying “haa! it is too much now,enough of the english”..ok ooo,i hear you,as i don’t like to speak grammars as well,but that was necessary,i hope you guys have learnt one or two things about cancer.I am going to stop here for now,and next time (God willing),i will blog about A-Z types of cancer…..
And that’s it guys,
Until next time,
I love y’all 🙂
References:
National Cancer Institute & America Cancer society
