What is cancer? Cancer is a disease caused by an uncontrolled division of unusual cells in a part of the body. It is a disease of mitosis, which begins when one cell is transformed from a normal cell to a cancerous cell. Mitosis is a type of cell division which has 6 steps (Interphase, Prophase, Metaphase, Anaphase, Telophase, and Cytokinesis) that result in two daughter cells that are clones of the parent. Cancerous cells do not abide by the normal instructions of mitosis. Instead, the cells speed through many of these stages and continue to divide excessively.
In a typical cell cycle, there are about 3 check points. The first checkpoint is in the first resting phase, and then the cell starts synthesis. The next checkpoint is after another resting stage, if the cell is big enough, and has a suitable environment, then the cell will start mitosis. The next check point is the metaphase check point, where you must make sure that the chromosomes are aligned on the spindle. Then, the cycle goes into repeat. In cancerous cells, the cells would speed through these checkpoints and go into division.
Normal cells and cancerous cells are very different. Besides the fact that cancerous cells can be fatal, there are a lot of other differences. For example, normal cells have a large cytoplasm, while cancerous cells have a small cytoplasm. Normal cells have a single nucleus, while cancerous cells have multiple nuclei. Cancerous cells have coarse chromatin, and normal cells have fine chromatin. There are over 200 types of cancer in our world today. Some of the most popular forms of cancer are breast cancer and kidney cancer. Breast cancer is a tumor that develops in your breasts.
Your breasts become sore and lumpy. This is most common in women; however, men can also get breast cancer. Kidney cancer is cancer that begins in the kidneys. When you have kidney cancer, your kidneys hurt badly, and it is hard to pass urine and other substances. There are many factors that will contribute to you getting cancer. However, not doing these things does not guarantee that you will not get cancer. The main cancer risk factors include old age, tobacco, sunlight, radiation, poor diet, obesity, alcohol, heredity, viruses and exposure to certain chemicals.
There are numerous treatment options for cancer. There’s surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, targeted therapy, immunotherapy, hyperthermia, bone marrow and peripheral blood stem cell transplant, photodynamic therapy, lasers in cancer treatment, and blood product donation and transfusion. The most common kinds of treatments include surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. Surgery removes the organ infected with cancer, so it does not end up spreading.
Most people will end up having some kind of surgery. Chemotherapy is when strong medicines and drugs are used to treat cancer. It is scary, but extremely effective. Radiation is uses high-energy particles and waves to destroy cancer cells. More recently, a treatment called OSU-CG12 is a drug that chokes off sugar supply. Cancerous cells rely on sugar heavily, therefore, when OSU-CG12 is injected, the cells explode.
In conclusion, cancer is a very dangerous disease. It can be scary too, especially since twenty five percent of every death in the United State is contributed to cancer. Fifty percent of all men and thirty three percent of all women in the Unites States will develop cancer in their lifetime. It has been affecting over 12 million people since 2008. Millions of people are living with cancer, have had cancer, or even know people with cancer. However, if you know your facts and know how to stay healthy, you can overcome cancer.