Cancer is a life-taking disease typically characterized by uncontrollable growth of cells. There are more than 100 types of identified cancers and all these types are classified according to the type of cells that are affected initially.

2. Cancer is a life-taking
disease typically
characterized by
uncontrollable growth of
cells.
There are more than 100
types of identified cancers
and all these types are
classified according to the
type of cells that are
affected initially.

3. Cancer can harm the body while damaged cells
start dividing beyond control to develop masses
or lumps of tissue known as tumors.
However, there are some exceptions, such as
leukemia – a type of blood cancer that prohibits
normal function of blood by causing abnormal
division of cells in blood stream.

4. Tumors start growing and
interfering with the
functions of the body
affecting the nervous
circulatory and digestive
systems and they may also
release hormones to alter
the functions of the body.
There are tumors that may
remain in one spot
demonstrating limited or
no growth and are
considered benign, or non-
cancerous.

5. There are some tumors that are more
serious, typically malignant, when there are two
things present:
 cancerous cells manage to pass throughout the
body with the use of lymph and blood systems
thus destroying most of the healthy tissues
through a process known as invasion
 The cell starts dividing and growing, thus
forming new blood vessels for feeding itself in
the process called angiogenesis.

6. When a classic tumor starts
spreading successfully, to
other parts of the body,
growing rapidly and invading
healthy tissues to destroy
them, it is metastasized.
The process is known as
metastatic which results in a
serious condition often
difficult to cure.

7. Why and how cancer cells
spread, has been a common
cause of concern.
According to the reports of
Nature Communications
released in October 2012,
scientists reported that they
have successfully discovered a
vital clue that suggests how
cancer cells start spreading.

8. The adhesion properties (stickiness) of the cells are
responsible in some ways. There are some molecular
interactions between the cells and scaffolding that
will hold them right in lace and make them unstuck
to the site of tumor; they are gradually dislodged and
they move to reattach themselves at another site.
Researchers hold that this discovery has been
significant as cancer mortality is primarily attributed
to the metastatic tumors – the ones that start growing
from cells having traveled from the original site to
other parts of the body. Only about 10 percent of all
deaths caused by cancer are due to the primary stage
of tumors.

9. Cancer, ultimately, is the result
of cells growing out of control
and that don’t die. Normal
cells found in the body start
following a regular cycle –
growth, division, and eventual
death.
Apoptosis is the process of
programmed death of cells;
when the process breaks down,
or fails cancer starts forming.

10. Unlike the normal or regular cells, cancer cells
don’t experience a programmatic death but rather
grows consistently and divides. This causes a
mass of uncontrollable and abnormal cells that
start growing out of control.
There are many other factors responsible for
causing cancer, such as genes and DNA
carcinogens and various other medical factors.