Cancers
This is an excerpt from the paper...
Cancer is a group of related diseases that begin in cells, according to the National Cancer Institute (2000). It is the result of uncontrolled growth of cells in the body and their ability to migrate from their site of origin to distant parts of the body (Cherath, 1999). Cancer is second largest cause of death after heart disease in the United States. There are different types of cancers: carcinomas which start in the epithelium, and account for about 90 percent of human cancers; melanomas, which start in the pigment cells (the melanocytes); sarcomas, which start in the supporting cells of the body such as muscles and bones; cancers of the nerve cells called gliomas; and cancers of the blood (leukemias) and the lymph tissue (lymphomas) (Cherath, 1999). These are malignant tumors, where the cells keep dividing uncontrollably and can damage the tissues and organs they invade. Malignant tumors also spread to other parts of the body when cells break off and get carried away in the bloodstream (National Cancer Institute, 2000). Benign tumors are not cancer and do not spread or usually pose a threat to life. Cancer is not contagious, and though it is often hard to find an exact cause for a particular cancer, there are many risk factors which are recognized as making people more prone to getting cancer. These include lifestyle (smoking, alcohol use, diet, sexual practices), the environment (ultraviolet radiation, radon exposure, carcinogenic chemicals in t
. . .
eath rather than proliferate. If the gene is damaged, it can no longer prevent continued proliferation, and lung cancer results. MMCA1 has been implicated in glioblastoma multiforme, a rare brain cancer (Sternbergg, 1997). It has also been implicated with breast, prostate, kidney, skin and other cancers.
A major discovery in looking at the role of genes in causing cancer is that it only takes a mutation in one of these genes to disrupt a growth/regulation pathway in cancer (Haber and Fearon, 1998). Also, mutations in genes that interact with each other seem to be mutually exclusive within a particular cancer. Only a single mutation is needed in each pathway for cancer to occur. A team of researchers at the University of Massachusetts found that reducing the function of a suppressor gene by half was enough to generate tumors of the head and neck in genetically engineered mice (Reduction in tumor suppressor, 2001). This is an important discovery because it demonstrated that there is a causal link between the loss of a suppressor gene and the development of cancer. The gene used, Ini-1, has been shown to be missing in several human cancers, and this study demonstrated a causal relationship between the missing ge
. . .
Some common words found in the essay are:
EBV DNA, Haber Fearon, Research Institute, Alternative Perspective, Cancer Institute, University Alabama, CtlP BRCA1, United Surgeon, University Massachusetts, City Utah, breast cancer, lung cancer, tumor suppressor, haber fearon 1998, fearon 1998, cancer cells, haber fearon, suppressor gene, cancer gene, gastric carcinoma, forms cancer, cancer weekly plus, play major role, tumor suppressor gene, breast cancer brca1,
Approximate Word count = 2623
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)
More Essays on Cancers
|
Customer Service
to Over
32,000 Professionally Written Papers!!!
