Cancer Objective 3.02

What is Cancer? Cancer is uncontrolled cell growth. (Mitosis) When you are young, your cells grow so fast 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.

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).

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

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.

Most Common Cancers Males Females 1. Prostate 1:6 1. Breast 1:8 2. Lung 1:13 2. Lung 1:16 3. Colon 1:19 3. Colon 1:20 4. Bladder 1:26 4. Uterine 1:40 5. Skin Cancer 1:43 5. Skin Cancer 1: 66

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.