Explain about the Cancer?

The word 'cancer' comes from the Latin for crab. It refers 90 any malignant growth or tumor caused by abnormal and uncontrolled cell division. Body cells, we know, are the basic units of life - each of us has trillions of them. Our cells help us to carry out all functions of life - from the beating of the heart to the throwing of a football. Cancers are new growths of cells in our bodies. Through expression of these properties, it can cause destruction of major organs, and in some cases, life threatening disturbances in body function. Let us see why it happens. Every cell in the body has the potential to form a new growth. Indeed, this is not a problem just of humans, but, in fact, all living organisms (plants and animals) are susceptible to cancer, simply because all living organisms are made up of cells. Cells are dynamic - they are constantly in the process of making decisions about what they want to do next.

The decision to grow is one such major decision. Cells grow by dividing in half, such that one cell will become two, and two become four (these new cells are called daughter cells). Normally, there are very strict rules as to when a cell can grow or not. These rules are set down by a variety of factors, including all cells around it, various hormones in the body and various external factors to which the cell may respond. One example is growth of bones from infancy to early adulthood. The cell basically is set loose to divide without its normal control. These genetic events are not inherited through the gametes. There are changes in the somatic cells (other than sperm cells and ova).When this happens; the cell continues to divide, eventually forming a new growth that is what we know as a tumour or neoplasia. This growth is detectable only when this division reaches the point where the number of daughter cells is 1,000,000,000 (one billion). When a cell is set loose from normal control, it becomes what is known as transformed. Basically, the cell no longer looks like its neighbours in terms of its shape, size, and its internal components. This transformed property is conferred upon all of the daughter cells. That is, all subsequent cells that arise from that initially transformed cell will also look different and grow in an uncontrolled manner.

This is the transmissible nature of cancer - once one cell becomes cancerous, all cells that arise from this abnormal cell also take on this characteristic. There are different forms of cancer with different characteristics, requiring different types of treatment. The causes (etiological factors) are also found to be different. So to make it simpler, cancer is a tumor or new growth which has a high growth factor. The new growth may be benign or malignant. A malignant growth can kill a patient if left untreated. A malignant tumor can invade the surrounding tissue and release cells that can be carried to other parts of the body and set up metastasis (growth of malignant tissue that spreads to the surrounding tissues). A benign growth is non- malignant.