CANCER :- LIFE THREATENING DISEASE

Cancer ( life threatening disease )

general overview of cancer 

some facts about cancer

some facts about cancer 

Definition:-

Cancer is defined as the uncontrolled , abnormal , excessive cell divisions anywhere in the body.   

                                            or

A malignant tumour formed anywhere in the body by abnormal , uncontrolled, excessive cell growth in any part of the body.

you can define cancer in many other ways.

cancer definition

Lets see that what is the basic difference in normal cells and cancerous cells.

The growth of normal cell of our body is regulated by genes or we can say the cell division is in under control of  regulatory genes .

normal cell division

The cancer cell divides uncontrollably without under control of genes or regulatory genes.

cancer cell division is faster

Types of tumours:- Malignant and Benign or difference between malignant and benign tumour

Benign tumour :- A benign tumour is the tumour formed in anywhere in the body which is non cancerous and formed by the normal cell of body.

properties of benign tumour 

1. They confined to their original place 

    non-invasive 

    non-metastatic 

    non-fatal

2. Growth is slow and limited (under control of genes).

3. No angiogenesis.

Malignant tumour:- Malignant tumour is made up of cancerous cells.

Properties of  malignant tumour

1. They do not confined to their original location they can change their location and affects other tissues also.

   invasive (invade to other tissues)

   fatal, show metastasis (metastasis is most feared property of           malignant tumor).

2. Growth is fast and not limited(not under the control of genes)

3. Show angiogenesis

Note:- All tumors are not cancer, while most cancer forms tumour.

Types of cancer 

There are more over 100 types of cancer,which affect different parts of body.basically the classification of cancer is depend upon the organ and cell type where abnormal cell division begin. for example- cancer that begin in lungs is called as lung cancer.

 A. Carcinomas :-Cancer of skin cells , epithelial tissues, gland such type of cancer arises in epithelial lining of internal organs.


Carcinoma is originated when the epithelial cell divides uncontrollably.The layer of epithelial cell present almost in all body organs as a protective or covering layer.


So,carcinoma is further categorize on the basis of where it grows in body. for example if it begin in epithelial cell layer of lungs it is called as lung cancer.

1. Skin cancer 
2. Lung cancer 
3. Breast cancer 
4. Cervical cancer
5. Brain cancer 
6. Adenocarcinoma (gland tumour)
7. Gastric cancer
8. Colon cancer
9. Oral cancer 

note:- Breast cancer in female and prostate cancer in male is common incident in world.


note:-cervical cancer in female and oral cancer in males are common in india.

note:- Lung cancer accounts for 31.1% of all cancer death in men and 25% in women .


Sarcomas or Melanocarcinoma:- these are cancer growths of melanocytes(a type of skin cells).



B. Sarcomas :- these are derived from the tissues of mesodermal origin, ex- bones, fat and cartilage.
they are rarely found in human(about 1% of all tumors).

Some examples are :-

1. Bone cancer           - osteosarcoma 

2. Muscle cancer        - myosarcoma

3. Lymph node cancer - lymphosarcoma

C. Leukaemias and Lymphomas :- 

These are the tumors of hematopoietic cells. These are also called as blood cancer.

The blood formation is occur in bone marrow. when the blood forming cells inside bone marrow grows rapidly and form tumour (malignant) then it is blood cancer or leukaemias. 

1.Chronic myelogenous leukaemia (CML) :- This fatal cancer occurs mainly due to reciprocal translocation between chromosomes-22 and chromosome-9 which produce abnormal chromosome 22 (philadelphia chromosome).

2.Burkitt's lymphoma :- This produce due to reciprocal translocation between chromosome-8 and chromosome-14.

D.Glioma :-  cancer of glial cells (it arises in brain and spinal cord).

E. Germinoma - Cancer of gametes forming cells is called as germinoma. cancer of testes and ovaries.

Etiology of cancer

There are three genes which regulates normal cell growth in our body.

When these gene alter due to some reason(carcinogen).

Alteration in these genes leads to oncogenic transformation.

Genes 

a. Proto-oncogene

b. Tumour suppressor gene -inhibit cell proliferation.

c. Suicide gene -programmed cell death.

All these are involved in normal cell growth.
cancer is caused by mutant alleles of these genes, whose products do not respond to normal regulatory signals.as a result, the mutated cell proliferate uncontrollably.

Cancer cell do not show contact inhibition ( when cell comes in contact they inhibit uncontrolled growth by activation of tumour suppressor gene).

Carcinogens 

Transformation of normal cells into cancerous neoplastic cells may be include by physical, chemical, or biological agents.these agents are called as carcinogens.

1.Radiations :- Ionising radiations like x rays and gamma rays and non-ionising radiations like uv rays cause damage to DNA leading to oncogenic transformation.

2.Chemical factors:- Chemical carcinogens present in tobacco smoke have been identified as a major source of lung cancer.

Heavy smoking n-nitrosodimethylamine causes oral cancer , cancer of larynx and lungs.

Combustion of coal and pesticides , artificial flavouring agents, sweeteners, synthetic food, cause hormonal imbalance in body and it leads to cancer.

3.Physical factors :- Sharp teeth can cause tongue cancer.

Kashmiri peoples keep ''kangri" close to skin that causes skin cancer or ''kangri cancer''. 

4.Biological factors:- Cancer causing viruses called oncogenic viruses have genes called viral oncogenes.

                       Diagnosis of cancer

Early detection of cancer is essential as it allows to be treated successfully in many cases.

There are some technique for cancer detection and diagnosis:-

Blood examination

Increased wbc count in case of leukaemias.

detection of tumour markers like alpha fetoproteins (AFP) for liver cancer.

Biopsy

A piece of suspected tissue or tumour is cut into very thin pieces, stained and is examined under microscope.this is done by pathologists. 

In this pathologist study the structure of cell cancer cell have very high karyoplasmic index, nucleus large and irregular, nucleolus large, no. of mitochondria and ribosomes increased.

F.N.A.C.

Fine needle aspiration cytology eg- breast cyst/tumour. Fluid is collected from tumours and examined for presence of cancer cells.

PAP SMEAR 

It is used for cervical cancer diagnosis. slide is prepared from cervical fluid.

X-ray, C-T scan and MRI

These techniques are used to diagnosis of cancer of internal organs such as brain.

TREATMENT OF CANCERS

Surgery 

By removing entire cancerous tissue or tumour.

Radiotherapy

Tumour cell are killed by the exposure of radiation by taking proper care of normal cells.

cobalt therapy co-60 

iodine therapy i-131 

x ray radiations

Chemotherapy 

In this chemical  are  used to treat cancer or chemotherapeutic drugs are used to kill cancer cells.

Anti cancer drugs inhibits the cancerous cell growth.

Vincristine

Vinblastine 

Taxol

vincristine and vinblastine are extract from a indian weed vinca rosea. 

note:- the majority of drugs have side effects like weight loss, hair loss, nausea, vomiting, diginess, low energy.

note:- Most of the cancers are treated with the combination of surgery,radiation and anti-cancerous drug.

note:- bone marrow transplantation is also done in cases of leukaemias.

"You can be a victim of cancer, or a survivor of cancer. It's a mindset."

                    ''cancer is just a word not a sentence''