Cancer and How it Affects Your Body
Cancer is a disease in which abnormal cells grow out of control and infiltrate normal tissues. It can also spread to other parts of the body. Cancer can be treated with surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, hormone therapy, and other procedures and drugs. Some treatments target specific tumors, while others focus on preventing or blocking the growth of cancer cells in other parts of the body.
Our bodies are made up of trillions of cells. Over the course of our lives, these cells normally grow and divide to produce new cells that replace old ones. When something goes wrong with these cells, they start to grow out of control and don’t die when they should. As these abnormal cells continue to grow and reproduce, they can crowd out the healthy ones and prevent the body’s tissues from functioning properly.
Over time, these abnormal cells can accumulate mutations that change their genetic instructions and cause them to do things that they shouldn’t. When these mutations occur in genes that are involved in cell growth and division, they can give cancer cells a survival advantage over the healthy cells around them. Cancer cells can also gain a survival advantage through their ability to fill distinct ecological niches within the tumor microenvironment. This results in the emergence of distinct phenotypes that can be classified as cancer cell subtypes.
These phenotypes can be used to determine the best treatment for each patient. This is known as personalized medicine.
In the early days of understanding cancer, it was thought that cancer cells evolved through a process called natural selection. This is a theory that explains how changes in gene frequencies over time can lead to the emergence of new traits such as resistance to certain drugs.
The problem with this idea is that it doesn’t explain how cancers can appear to progress rapidly and evade the effects of drug therapies. For example, cancer cells can develop a variety of adaptations that allow them to take up nutrients and other resources, evade the body’s immune system, recruit protumor components, create and tolerate acidic conditions, or generate public goods (angiogenesis). These adaptive features of tumors can help cancers gain a competitive edge over their surrounding normal tissue.
There are a number of ways to lower your risk of getting cancer, including avoiding excessive sun exposure and using sunscreen when you do go out. Eating a balanced diet that includes lots of fruits and vegetables can also help. In addition, it is important to get at least 30 minutes of exercise most days of the week. Talk to your healthcare team about these strategies and other steps that you can take to reduce your cancer risk. They may recommend a screening test to find cancers when they are small and easier to treat. This is especially important because many types of cancer don’t cause any symptoms in the early stages. This is why it’s so important to visit your doctor regularly.
Cancer is a disease in which abnormal cells grow out of control and infiltrate normal tissues. It can also spread to other parts of the body. Cancer can be treated with surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, hormone therapy, and other procedures and drugs. Some treatments target specific tumors, while others focus on preventing or blocking the growth of cancer cells in other parts of the body. Our bodies are made up of trillions of cells. Over the course of our lives, these cells normally grow and divide to produce new cells that replace old ones. When something goes wrong with these cells, they start to grow out of control and don’t die when they should. As these abnormal cells continue to grow and reproduce, they can crowd out the healthy ones and prevent the body’s tissues from functioning properly. Over time, these abnormal cells can accumulate mutations that change their genetic instructions and cause them to do things that they shouldn’t. When these mutations occur in genes that are involved in cell growth and division, they can give cancer cells a survival advantage over the healthy cells around them. Cancer cells can also gain a survival advantage through their ability to fill distinct ecological niches within the tumor microenvironment. This results in the emergence of distinct phenotypes that can be classified as cancer cell subtypes. These phenotypes can be used to determine the best treatment for each patient. This is known as personalized medicine. In the early days of understanding cancer, it was thought that cancer cells evolved through a process called natural selection. This is a theory that explains how changes in gene frequencies over time can lead to the emergence of new traits such as resistance to certain drugs. The problem with this idea is that it doesn’t explain how cancers can appear to progress rapidly and evade the effects of drug therapies. For example, cancer cells can develop a variety of adaptations that allow them to take up nutrients and other resources, evade the body’s immune system, recruit protumor components, create and tolerate acidic conditions, or generate public goods (angiogenesis). These adaptive features of tumors can help cancers gain a competitive edge over their surrounding normal tissue. There are a number of ways to lower your risk of getting cancer, including avoiding excessive sun exposure and using sunscreen when you do go out. Eating a balanced diet that includes lots of fruits and vegetables can also help. In addition, it is important to get at least 30 minutes of exercise most days of the week. Talk to your healthcare team about these strategies and other steps that you can take to reduce your cancer risk. They may recommend a screening test to find cancers when they are small and easier to treat. This is especially important because many types of cancer don’t cause any symptoms in the early stages. This is why it’s so important to visit your doctor regularly.