Cancer

What Is Cancer?
• The term “cancer” refers to more than 100 different diseases
that begin in the cells, the body’s basic unit of life

• Cancer develops when cells grow, or divide, and form more

cells without control or order
 Normal Tissue

• Under normal circumstances, new cell growth and old cell

death are kept in balance.
Beginning of abnormal growth
 Tumor
• When extra cells grow, they form a mass of tissue
called a growth, or a tumor
 Cancer cells avoid cell death
• When normal cells are damaged beyond
repair, they are eliminated by apoptosis.

• Cancer cells avoid apoptosis and

continue to multiply in an unregulated
manner.
 Malignant versus Benign Tumors
• Depending on whether or not
they can spread by invasion and
metastasis, tumors are
classified as being either benign
or malignant.
• Benign tumors are tumors that
cannot spread by invasion or
metastasis; hence, they only
grow locally.
• Malignant tumors are tumors
that are capable of spreading by
invasion and metastasis.
Malignant versus Benign Tumors
 Malignant tumors
• Cells in malignant tumors can grow without control and invade
or damage other parts of the body.

• When cancer (malignant tumor) spreads from the original site

to another part of the body it is called metastasis.
 Naming Cancer
• Most cancers are named for where they start.
• For example, lung cancer starts in the lung, and breast cancer
starts in the breast.
• Lymphoma is cancer that starts in the lymphatic system.
• Leukemia is cancer that starts in the blood (leukocytes=cells
in the blood).
 Types of cancers
Carcinoma:
Malignant tumors derived from epithelial cells. This group
represents the most common cancers, including the common
forms of breast, prostate, lung and colon cancer.
Sarcoma:
Malignant tumors derived from connective tissue.
Lymphoma:
are cancers that start in lymph nodes or lymphoid tissues
Leukemia:
are cancers of the white blood cells.
 Causes of Cancer
• Nearly all cancers are caused by abnormalities in the genetic
material of the transformed cells.

• These abnormalities may be due to the effects of

carcinogens, such as tobacco smoke, radiation, chemicals, or
infectious agents.

• Other cancer-promoting genetic abnormalities may be

randomly acquired through errors in DNA replication, or are
inherited.
 Genes and Cancer
• Genetic abnormalities found in cancer typically affect two
general classes of genes.
• Cancer-promoting oncogenes are often activated in cancer
cells, giving those cells new properties, such as hyperactive
growth and division.
• Tumor suppressor genes are often inactivated in cancer cells,
resulting in the loss of normal functions in those cells, such as
accurate DNA replication, control over the cell cycle.
Oncogenes
Oncogenes