Cancer: Disease or Death?? (Part 1)

Cervical Cancer- HPV

By the way, what is cancer according to you?? Is it a disease or death?

Let's try to argue out what cancer really is.

Cancer:

It's uncontrolled division of cells resulting to a malignant growth or tumor.

We'll talk about two things here; cell and gene.

The body is made up of microscopic units called cells. Cells have internal structures called organelles. Cells undergo division in order to form other new ones. A group of similar cells forms a tissue which in turn form an organ. A group of organs form an organ system which makes up the whole organism. This division of cells is called mitosis. (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mitosis)

What controls mitosis??

Genes. One of the cell's internal structures is the nucleus. Nucleus contains DNA. Genes are simply units of DNA that control all body functions in the human body. Genes are the 'team behind the scene'. Everything has got a limit, and so genes control ability of cells to divide up to a certain limit. They also control the rate at which cells die after their lifespan.

Genes & Cancer

3 types of genes are linked to cancer;

• Tumor suppressor genes. They control cell division. When these genes behave abnormally, cells end up growing without dying resulting to tumor (overgrowth).
• Oncogenes. They're cancer-causing genes. These actually turn normal healthy cells into cancerous cells.
• DNA repair genes . The DNA undergoes certain errors when being copied. These genes correct these errors. However, these genes may be defective and fail to correct the mistakes. This may lead to cancer. 

We've addressed what  cancer is and how it occurs. The great discussion still remains...

 Is cancer a disease or death?? Join me in my part 2.