Cancer
Cancer
Cancer
www.pptpoint.com library
Cancer
Cancer is one of the most common diseases in
the developed world:
1 in 4 deaths are due to cancer
1 in 17 deaths are due to lung cancer
Lung cancer is the most common cancer in men
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in
women
There are over 100 different forms of cancer
Cancer
The division of normal cells is precisely
controlled. New cells are only formed for growth
or to replace dead ones.
Cancerous cells divide repeatedly out of control
even though they are not needed, they crowd
out other normal cells and function abnormally.
They can also destroy the correct functioning of
major organs.
What causes cancer?
Cancer arises from the mutation of a normal
gene.
Mutated genes that cause cancer are called
oncogenes.
It is thought that several mutations need to
occur to give rise to cancer
Cells that are old or not functioning properly
normally self destruct and are replaced by
new cells.
However, cancerous cells do not self destruct
and continue to divide rapidly producing
millions of new cancerous cells.
A factor which brings about a mutation is
called a mutagen.
A mutagen is mutagenic.
Here is the same section of DNA but from another cell. If you
can imagine that DNA is a twisted ladder, then each rung of the
ladder is a pair of joined molecules, or a base pair. With this
section of DNA, one of the base pairs is different from the
original.
Not all mutations that lead to cancerous cells result in the cells
reproducing at a faster, more uncontrolled rate. For example, a
mutation may simply cause a cell to keep from self-destructing.
All normal cells have surveillance mechanisms that look for
damage or for problems with their own control systems. If such
problems are found, the cell destroys itself.
Over time and after many cell divisions, a third mutation may
arise. If the mutation gives the cell some further advantage,
that cell will grow more vigorously than its predecessors and
thus speed up the growth of the tumour.
6. Fourth mutation
Metastasis is now
underway, as tumour
cells from the original
cancer growth travel
throughout the body.
Most of these cells will
die soon after entering
the blood or lymph
circulation.
11. Metastasis