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What is Cancer?
Definition
Noun
- A disease caused by an uncontrolled division of abnormal cells in a part of the body
- a practice or phenomenon perceived to be evil or destructive and hard to contain or eradicate.
Discovery
The oldest recorded descriptions of cancer dates all the way back to 3000 BC. The ancient Egyptian society had a trauma surgery book that described eight different types of cancer. During the Renaissance, scientists began to better understand the human body, and with that, in the 1760's, Giovanni Morgagni of Padua began to relate the autopsies to the patients death. Here he laid the path for the foundation of cancer studies, known as oncology. In the late 18th century, Scottish surgeon, John Hunter, discovered that cancers could be cured through surgery. This idea would become very popular in upcoming years when anesthesia would be introduced to the world. With the creation of the microscope in the early 19th century, Rudolf Virchow set the scientific basis for modern oncology.
Figure 1.
This is the Egyptians recorded notes on cancer and tumors. It also describes some treatments for it as well as "incurable" for others.
This is the Egyptians recorded notes on cancer and tumors. It also describes some treatments for it as well as "incurable" for others.
Cancer Cells
All cancer cells start out as normal cells following the cell cycle. At some point during this cycle, their genetic material is mutated. Normal cells hit a checkpoint, and then are placed into a phase called G₀. It is here where the normal cells would be in a waiting state until they have the proper environment to divide. Cancerous cells aren't placed into this state, and continuously divide regardless of the environment. Normal cells often specialize into whatever they are supposed to become. With cancer cells, they never specialize and continuously grow. Also, since the cancer cells are so focused on growing, if they receive some form of damage, they do not repair themselves like a normal cell would. Finally, cancer cells often have a different appearance. They are typically much larger and more abnormally shaped than a normal cell.
Figure 2.
Dividing Breast Cancer Cell
Dividing Breast Cancer Cell
Causes
There are very many causes of cancer. Some forms of cancer are genetic and are inherited from parents. Some cancer is caused by environmental factors, such as, exposure to chemicals and certain substances, diet, and exposure to sunlight. Age is also a factor as hormones, immunosuppression, and just plain cell replication can be linked to cancer as well.