What is Cancer?
Cancer: An abnormal growth of cells which tend to proliferate in an uncontrolled way and, in some cases, to metastasize (spread).
Cancer is not one disease. It is a group of more than 100 different and distinctive diseases.
Cancer can involve any tissue of the body and have many different forms in each body area. Most cancers are named for the type of cell or organ in which they start. If a cancer spreads (metastasizes), the new tumor bears the same name as the original (primary) tumor.
The frequency of a particular cancer may depend on gender. While skin cancer is the most common type of malignancy for both men and women, the second most common type in men is prostate cancer and in women, breast cancer.
Cancer frequency does not equate to cancer mortality. Skin cancers are often curable. Lung cancer is the leading cause of death from cancer for both men and women in the United States today.
Benign tumors are NOT cancer; malignant tumors are cancer. Cancer is NOT contagious.
Cancer is the Latin word for crab. The ancients used the word to mean a malignancy, doubtless because of the crab-like tenacity a malignant tumor sometimes seems show in grasping the tissues it invades. Cancer may also be called malignancy, a malignant tumor, or a neoplasm - ( literally, a new growth ).
Cancer and how it Spreads
How Cancer Spreads (Metastasis):
All forms of cancer spread with the help of a collagen dissolving mechanism. To reproduce and spread to other parts in the body, cancer cells degrade the extracellular matrix (ECM) by secreting various matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), which have been correlated with the aggressiveness of tumor growth. With the help of these collagen-dissolving enzymes, cancer cells can bulldoze their way though the extracellular matrix (ECM) and capsule enclosing the tumor and through an adjacent blood vessel wall, to be carried to other sites where the cancer cells can invade other organs, as shown here. Information by: Dr Mattias Rath (1) (2) (3) (4)
Lung Cancer News. 9th June 2004
BUENOS AIRES (Reuters Health)- Non-steroidal inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) appear to reduce tumor growth, metastasis and related cachexia in a mouse model of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), a new study shows.
Argentine researchers administered the nonselective COX inhibitor indomethacin and the selective COX-2 inhibitor celecoxib in mice inoculated with LP07 lung adenocarcinoma. These animals "show some characteristics that are similar to those present in patients with NSCLC," they write in the July 20th online edition of the International Journal of Cancer. Click here for full story
Cancer Prevention Coalition. 2004
Winning the war on cancer means preventing cancer. Yet cancer is a multi-billion dollar business. Isn’t preventing cancer bad for business? It is for the pharmaceutical and mammography businesses. These industries have intricate ties to U. S. policy makers, directing research funds to insure their continued profits in cancer diagnosis/treatment. It’s time for reform. Congressional leaders are calling for an investigation of the U.S. National Cancer Institute for its indifference to cancer prevention, other than smoking, and for denying the public of its Right-to-Know, and for failing to inform Congress and regulatory agencies. [1]. Click here for full story . [2] .Corporate Interests [3]. Viewpoints
