This document discusses cancer cells and how they differ from normal cells. Cancer cells continue to grow uncontrollably, do not respond to signals to stop growing or undergo apoptosis, can invade nearby tissues, and are able to spread to other parts of the body. Cancer starts due to mutations in genes that control cell growth. The grade of a cancer describes how abnormal the cancer cells appear, with higher grades looking less like normal cells. Common cancer treatments include surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and immunotherapy.

1. Cancer CellsAbout UsTopicsHome Reference

2. Cancer CellsAbout UsTopicsHome Reference
Content:
What are cancer cells?
How cancer cells are different?
Grade and Cancer Cells
How Cancer Starts?
Treatment of Cancer

3. Cancer CellsAbout UsTopicsHome Reference
Cancer Cells are
• are cells gone wrong — in other words, they no
longer respond to many of the signals that
control cellular growth and death.
• appear to the body’s immune system to be
normal cells, therefore the body’s defenses will
not attack them.
• cell that has achieved a sort of immortality.

4. Cancer CellsAbout UsTopicsHome Reference
Cancer Cells
Vs. Normal
Cells
• Growth – Normal cells grow as a
part of growth and development,
or to repair injured tissue. Cancer
cells continue to grow
(reproduce) even when further
cells are not needed. Cancer cells
also fail to listen to signals that
tell them to stop growing or
commit cell suicide (apoptosis)
when the cells become old or
damaged.

5. Cancer CellsAbout UsTopicsHome Reference
• Ability to invade nearby tissues – Normal cells
respond to signals from other cells which tell them
they have reached a boundary. Cancer cells do not
respond to these signals, and extend into nearby
tissues often with finger-like projections.
• Ability to spread (metastasize) to other regions of
the body – Normal cells make substances called
adhesion molecules that cause them to stick to
nearby cells. Cancer cells, lacking the stickiness
caused by these adhesion molecules can break free
and float to other regions of the body.

6. Cancer CellsAbout UsTopicsHome Reference
• Immortality – Normal cells, like humans, have a
lifespan. When they reach a certain age, they die.
Cancer cells, in contrast, have developed a way to
“defy” death. On the end of our chromosomes is a
structure known as a telomere. Every time a cell
divides, its telomeres becomes shorter. When the
telomeres become short enough, the cells dies.
Cancer cells have figured out a way to restore their
telomeres so that they don’t continue to shorten as
the cell divides, thus, in a way, making them
immortal.

7. Cancer CellsAbout UsTopicsHome Reference

8. Cancer CellsAbout UsTopicsHome Reference
Grade and
Cancer
Cells
• A low grade cancer cell looks
more like a normal cell
• A high grade cancer cell looks
more abnormal and is less well
developed than a normal cell
• The grade of a cancer is different
to the stage of a cancer. The
'stage' describes how big the
cancer is and if it has spread or
not.
Prostate Cancer
Cell

9. Cancer CellsAbout UsTopicsHome Reference
• Doctors and scientists now know that each
cancer starts with changes in one cell or a
small group of cells. Usually, many years
before you can feel a lump, or a doctor can
see it on a scan, the cells have started to
divide and reproduce uncontrollably.
• You can see from the differences between
normal cells and cancer cells that the
cancer cell seems to lose a number of vital
control systems. This happens because
some of the genes in the cell have been
damaged or lost. Scientists call this
'mutation'.
How
cancer
starts

10. Cancer CellsAbout UsTopicsHome Reference
The organs in our body are made up of cells. Cells
divide and multiply as the body needs them. When these
cells continue multiplying when the body doesn't need them,
the result is a mass or growth, also called a tumor.
These growths are considered either benign or
malignant. Benign is considered non-cancerous and
malignant is cancerous. Benign tumors rarely are life
threatening and do not spread to other parts of the body.
They can often be removed. Malignant tumors, however,
often invade nearby tissue and organs, spreading the
disease.

11. Cancer CellsAbout UsTopicsHome Reference
Treatment of Cancer
There are four standard methods of treatment
for cancer: surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy,
and immunotherapy/biologic therapy. When initially
diagnosed with cancer, a cancer specialist (called an
oncologist) will provide the patient with cancer
treatment options. He or she will recommend the best
treatment plan based on the type of cancer, how far it
has spread, and other important factors like age and
general health.

12. Cancer CellsAbout UsTopicsHome Reference
References
• http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/cancer-
help/about-cancer/what-is-cancer/cells/how-
cancer-starts
• http://cancer.about.com/od/newlydiagnosed/
a/whatcancer.htm
• http://lungcancer.about.com/od/Biology-of-
Cancer/a/Cancer-Cells.htm

13. Cancer CellsAbout UsTopicsHome Reference
Prepared by:
Den Mark B. Galapir
Melbourne Padirayon