Cancer is a medical issue that most people worry about but
not a lot of people actually know the causes of cancer. I've always been
interested in cancer and how exactly the cancer cells get abnormalities. Cancer
begins in a single cell that normally didn't go through mitosis properly.
Scientists have found that most cells that went too quickly through the mitosis
process didn't have checkpoints in the cell. These checkpoints allow the cell
to go through mitosis at the right speed, but if a cell doesn't have these it
rushes through everything which creates abnormalities.
These abnormalities will create a cancer cell which keeps
replicating forming more and more. These cancer cells will come together to
form a tumor. Tumors are masses of cells which interfere with normal cells.
They suck energy and things like that which they need and that causes other
healthy cells to suffer from not getting what they need. These tumors can
normally be cut out or some other form of treatment but it is best if it is
caught in the early stages. An interesting fact is the different kinds of
cancer are normally named after the body part that the tumor is in. So the name
making process isn’t as creative as you think it is.
Metastasis is when a cancer cell breaks away from the tumor
and travels to other locations, infecting them. This causes cancer in multiple
places which is why you hear stories of people with multiple kinds of cancer.
Once you get cancer in multiple places it is very hard to treat and dangerous
for your body. Another interesting fact about metastasis is in the naming of
the new cancer. Say you have breast cancer and metastasis happens and it
travels to your lung it would then be called metastasis breast cancer not lung
cancer. The name of your new cancer is the same as the old one, just with
metastasis added to the front of it.
Two different causes of cancer are genetic or environmental.
You could have it in your genes and something triggers it or you might get it
from an environmental factor. Some direct causes of cancer are UV radiation
exposure, smoking, your diet, air pollution, and viruses. An interesting fact
about environmental factors is if you move to a country with a different cancer
rate than your previous country then your cancer rate will change. A prevention
tip is just trying to live a overall healthy lifestyle. Exercising daily, no
tobacco use, and a high fiber diet are all ways to help you live a healthier
life.
Questions:
What are
some things in your diet that might be linked to causing cancer?
What are
some different types of cancer you could develop?
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