What Do You Know About Cancer In Biology

Cancer is a genetic disorder and it is not a single disease, it’s a group of diseases. It is a genetic disease and can originate in many different tissues of the body. Some grow aggressively, others more slowly. Some types of cancer can be stopped by appropriate medical treatment and others can not be stopped. It is the uncertain growth of abnormal cells anywhere in the body. 

Some common cancer types are –

1. Breast cancer
2. Lung cancer
3. Colon and Rectal cancer
4. Prostate cancer
5. Liver cancer
6. Leukemia
7. Kidney cancer
8. Thyroid cancer etc.

The most common cancers in men, women, and children in the U.S.A are as follows:

•  Men: prostate, lung, and colorectal
•  Women: breast, lung, and colorectal
• Children: leukemia, brain tumors, and lymphoma.

More specific types of cancer found in each general category, this is not all-inclusive and the cancers listed below are the generic names of some cancers:

• Carcinoma: Carcinoma cancer begins in the skin or in tissues that cover internal organs such as skin, lung, colon, pancreatic, ovarian cancers.
• Sarcoma: Sarcoma cancer begins in bone, cartilage, fat, muscle, blood vessels, or other connective or supportive tissue such as bone, soft tissue cancers.
• Leukemia: It can start in the bone marrow and causes large numbers of abnormal blood cells to be produced and enter the blood.
• Lymphoma and myeloma: Begins in the cells of the immune system such as T-cell lymphomas, B-cell lymphomas, Hodgkin lymphomas, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, etc.

When the body’s normal control mechanism stops working then cancer develops in the whole body. The old cells not to die instead of growing out of control that forms new abnormal cells may form a mass of tissue. It’s called a tumor. Leukemia does not form tumors.

Risk factors of cancer

Exactly why one person develops cancer and another doesn’t, it’s very difficult to know. But certain risk factors can increase a person’s chances of developing cancer. These factors include exposure to chemicals or other substances and certain behaviors. There are also some other things that people cannot control. These are-

• Age
• Obesity
• Hormones
• Chronic inflammation
• Diet
• Infectious agents
• Gender
• Local environmental factors.

Symptoms of cancer:

Cancer symptoms depend on its types and where it is located or spread. The ACS that is American Cancer Society impresses seven most warning signs or symptoms of a cancer patient. 

1. Sore throat that does not heal.
2. Bowel or bladder habits change.
3. Unusual bleeding.
4. Difficulty swallowing or indigestion.
5. Lump in the breast.
6. Hoarseness or cough.
7. Change in size, color, shape, or thickness of wart.

Some other signs can alert someone to go to the doctor for the diagnosis of having possibilities of cancer. These are includes in the following:

• Sudden weight loss or loss of appetite.
• A new kind of pain in the bones or even other body parts.
• Fevers.
• Fatigue.
• Vomiting.
• Nausea.

Treatment of cancer: 

Cancer treatment is based on its type and stage. There are many tests to screen and by reasonable assumption diagnose cancer. Particular diagnosis is made by examination of a biopsy sample of suspected cancer tissue. Diagnosis and treatment can occur at the same time if the cancer is surgically removed, although a patient can receive a unique sequenced treatment for his/her cancer. Most treatments have one or more of the following components: surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, or combination treatment.

Different staging methods are used for the cancer treatment and the specific staging criteria alters among cancer types. The most common staging systems are-

• Involvement of lymph node.
• Several tumors.
• Size of tumors.
• The primary tumor site.
• Tumor grade and cell type.
• Presence or absence of metastasis.

There is some numeral or stage grouping system. Such as-   

Stage 1, 2 & 3

Maximum numbers indicate a more magnificent disease: larger tumor size or spread of the cancer nearby lymph nodes or organs adjacent to the location of the primary tumor.

Stage 4

Cancer has spread to another organ.

Cancer is not cured but it can be prevented. Avoiding its potential causes is the simplest method to prevent cancer. The first one should stop smoking tobacco, then avoiding excess sunlight and many of the chemicals or toxins. Recently two vaccines are approved by the U.S.A Food and Drug Administration to prevent a specific type of cancer. These are vaccines against the hepatitis B virus that works with liver cancer and vaccines against HPV that is human papillomavirus.