Cancer

1. Cancer Objective 3.02

2. What is Cancer? • Cancer is uncontrolled cell growth. (Mitosis) • When you are young, your cells grow fast so because you are growing a lot. • As an adult, cell growth slows down to only replace damaged & dying cells. • Cancer cells start out as normal cells whose DNA (instructions) become mutated (changed) in some way. • Because the DNA is damaged, the cell doesn’t know when it’s supposed to divide, and multiplies out of control.

3. How Did It Mutate? • Can be inherited, but usually it’s environmental. • Smoking, UV Exposure, etc. • If a particular cancer runs in your family, it does not automatically mean you will get it. Inherited damaged DNA alone will probably not give you cancer. • It takes several mistakes in your DNA for cancer to develop, so you should stay away from things you know cause cancer (like smoking).

4. Tumors • Tumors are a mass of cells collected in one place. • Benign: Non cancerous • Can still cause problems: Grow too large, Press on healthy organs • Can’t spread • Rarely life threatening • Malignant: Cancerous

6. Metastasis • Metastasis: The spreading of cancer cells throughout the body. • Cancerous cells break off of the tumor and travel through the blood and/or lymph vessels and attach to another organ. • Cancer is always named from where the cancer began. • Ex: Cancer that formed in breast tissue then metastasized to the liver is still called breast cancer.

8. Most Common Cancers

9. Treatments • Chemotherapy: Taking chemical drugs to treat the cancer. • Chemo kills all cells that grow fast, whether they are good cells or bad cells. • This is often why chemo patients lose their hair. • Radiation Therapy: Using a stream of particles to damage the cancer cells so they cannot divide anymore.