what causes some cells to not destroy themselves once they becomes cancerous?

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what causes some cells to not destroy themselves once they becomes cancerous?

In: Biology

Anonymous 0 Comments

That mechanism has been disabled in cancerous cells. For a cell to become cancerous, multiple specific mutations must occur.

It needs to have the regulatory systems disabled so that it divides without limit.

It needs to have the telomere-repair systems *enabled* so that it can divide endlessly.

It needs to have the self-destruct system disabled so that it won’t kill itself or signal for destruction when cancerous behavior is detected.

It needs to have all those, but crucially *not* have any mutations that change the external cell markers. It must look like a normal cell when the immune system inspects it.

It usually takes time to gather up all the mutations in the same cell, which is why your risk of cancer increases as you age.