Are all the different cancers really that different or is it all just cancer and we just specify where it formed?
In: Biology
Cancer is when cells in the body grow aggressively out of control. Normally there are in built controls to stop cells growing but they fail in cancer cells. Cancer cells cause damage as they grow – either from being bulky, or replacing and damaging other cells and spreading into important areas.
There are many different cell types in the body and any one of those can become a cancer. Cancers that start in different parts of the body are generally different from each other. Even cancers that start in one part of the body – such as lung cancers – can be different from each other depending on the original cell type involved.
Cancers are caused by damage to cells which cause them to grow out of control. That damage is commonly due to mutations in the genes of that cell (think of cells as little computers and the genes the programmes or software that run inside them). The mutations are caused by damage such as from smoking, or sunlight, or alcohol, or aging. The damage changes the way the cell works – for example turning off the mechanisms that tell a cell to die when it is damaged or that stop it multiplying out of control.
Treatments for cancer basically try and kill the cancerous cells in the body. Cancer cells grow and divide faster than other cells, so treatments like basic chemotherapy kill lots of cells in the body and the cancer cells die alongside lots of other healthy cells. Basic radiotherapy kills all the cells in an area and is targeted at the Cancer by doctors. Newer chemo and radiotherapies are targeted at specific types of cancers and cells, and now there are even drugs that target specific cells down to their walls or the specific genes that have gone wrong. Using the bodies own immune system to target the cancer cell is a newer method and looks to be very effective. Often multiple methods are used together.
It is unlikely there will be one single “cure” for all cancer but it may be that the cures that work for one type of cancer can be modified to work for another.
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