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Human biology
Biology
Physical education
Biology
Science
Human biology
Biology
Chemistry
Human biology
Physics
PSHE / Citizenship studies
Science
Biology
Chemistry
Physics
PSHE / Citizenship studies
Science
Biology
Science
Cancer is a non-communicable diseasecommunicable disease
Diseases that can be transmitted from one individual to another.
which occurs due to uncontrolled cell divisioncell division
The process by which a parent cell divides into two daughter cells.
, known as mitosis.
Mitosis is closely controlled by the genes inside every cell, but sometimes this control can go wrong. If that happens in just a single cell, it can replicate itself to make new cells that are also out of control. These are cancer cells. They continue to replicate rapidly without the control systems that normal cells have. Cancer cells will form lumps, or tumours, that damage the surrounding tissues.
Tumours can be either benign or malignantmalignant
A malignant tumour has the capacity to destroy surrounding tissues and can spread to other areas of the body as cells detach and are transported away in the blood or lymphatic system.
. Benign tumours are contained in one area and do not invade other parts of the body. However, malignant tumours are cancerous. They invade neighboring tissues and spread to different parts of the body through a process known as metastasismetastasis
The process by which cells from a primary tumour (cancer) break off, are carried around the body in the blood or lymph until they lodge in another organ, where they grow and invade healthy tissues forming secondary cancers.
, forming secondary tumours elsewhere.
Cancer is often caused by gene mutationmutation
A change in the arrangement or amount of genetic material in a cell.
s which can sometimes be caused by carcinogencarcinogen
Any substance that causes cancer.
s. Changing just one or two bases in the DNA sequence can scramble the information and mean that the gene does not work properly. If the mutation is in a gene that controls cell division, it can trigger the uncontrolled replication of that cell. This faulty gene is copied to all the new cells and so the uncontrolled growth continues. Smoking exposes an individual to carcinogens, and that is why there is a correlation between smoking incidence and cancer.
