What Causes Cancer?
Cancer causes cells to grow out of control, forming tumors and destroying healthy tissue. It can also spread from one part of the body to distant locations in the blood or lymph system, where it continues growing and forming more tumors, a process known as metastasis. When the disease advances, it can cause serious symptoms and death.
What causes a cell to become cancerous remains a mystery, though scientists have some clues. They know that cancer develops when genes go awry and that this can be triggered by things like chemicals, radiation, tobacco, excessive alcohol consumption or viruses. Normal aging can also damage genes, making them more likely to turn cancerous over time.
Scientists are working to learn more about what causes cancer by studying people who have it and those who don’t. They use a method called epidemiology to find patterns and identify potential risk factors. This involves looking at things like what diseases people have in their family, where they live, what jobs they have and how old they are.
A person’s chance of getting cancer depends on all these factors, but the most important ones are a person’s age and his or her genes. A person’s chance of dying from cancer is also influenced by whether the cancer is in a specific organ or part of the body, where it is located and what type of cancer it is.
In addition, the more the cancer grows and spreads, the harder it is to treat. The disease can put a huge physical, emotional and financial burden on patients, their families and health systems. Many people who have cancer die because their bodies cannot handle the strain of fighting it, or because they can’t afford to get proper care.
Doctors treat cancer by killing cancerous cells and shrinking or removing the tumors. They may also use drugs to prevent or delay cancer’s return. Some treatments are combined, such as chemotherapy with surgery and/or radiation.
The most common types of cancer are breast, lung, prostate and colon cancer. Other types include leukemia and lymphoma, kidney cancer, skin cancer, bone cancer and more.
The word cancer comes from Hippocrates’ observation that the long, distended veins that protrude from some tumors resembled crab legs. People have been wondering about the cause of cancer for centuries. They know now that it doesn’t develop all at once, as a sudden shift in cellular functions triggered by one or two wayward genes. Rather, it develops step-by-step over decades as the result of many molecular changes. It usually takes years for a series of mutations to accumulate and make the cells that comprise a tumor malignant. This gives researchers a lot of time to figure out ways to stop the changes from leading to cancer. Several promising therapies are in development. The goal is to kill the cancerous cells while sparing healthy ones. To do this, doctors are using newer medications, targeting specific proteins that are involved in cancer growth. They are also developing better methods of diagnosis and monitoring the progress of the disease.
Cancer causes cells to grow out of control, forming tumors and destroying healthy tissue. It can also spread from one part of the body to distant locations in the blood or lymph system, where it continues growing and forming more tumors, a process known as metastasis. When the disease advances, it can cause serious symptoms and death. What causes a cell to become cancerous remains a mystery, though scientists have some clues. They know that cancer develops when genes go awry and that this can be triggered by things like chemicals, radiation, tobacco, excessive alcohol consumption or viruses. Normal aging can also damage genes, making them more likely to turn cancerous over time. Scientists are working to learn more about what causes cancer by studying people who have it and those who don’t. They use a method called epidemiology to find patterns and identify potential risk factors. This involves looking at things like what diseases people have in their family, where they live, what jobs they have and how old they are. A person’s chance of getting cancer depends on all these factors, but the most important ones are a person’s age and his or her genes. A person’s chance of dying from cancer is also influenced by whether the cancer is in a specific organ or part of the body, where it is located and what type of cancer it is. In addition, the more the cancer grows and spreads, the harder it is to treat. The disease can put a huge physical, emotional and financial burden on patients, their families and health systems. Many people who have cancer die because their bodies cannot handle the strain of fighting it, or because they can’t afford to get proper care. Doctors treat cancer by killing cancerous cells and shrinking or removing the tumors. They may also use drugs to prevent or delay cancer’s return. Some treatments are combined, such as chemotherapy with surgery and/or radiation. The most common types of cancer are breast, lung, prostate and colon cancer. Other types include leukemia and lymphoma, kidney cancer, skin cancer, bone cancer and more. The word cancer comes from Hippocrates’ observation that the long, distended veins that protrude from some tumors resembled crab legs. People have been wondering about the cause of cancer for centuries. They know now that it doesn’t develop all at once, as a sudden shift in cellular functions triggered by one or two wayward genes. Rather, it develops step-by-step over decades as the result of many molecular changes. It usually takes years for a series of mutations to accumulate and make the cells that comprise a tumor malignant. This gives researchers a lot of time to figure out ways to stop the changes from leading to cancer. Several promising therapies are in development. The goal is to kill the cancerous cells while sparing healthy ones. To do this, doctors are using newer medications, targeting specific proteins that are involved in cancer growth. They are also developing better methods of diagnosis and monitoring the progress of the disease.