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Cancer and its causes

  •  Cancer

Cancer is one of the most dreaded diseases of human beings and is a major cause of death all over the globe. More than a million Indians suffer from cancer and a large number of them die from it annually.

  •  Causes of cancer;

 

In our body, cell growth and differentiation is highly controlled and regulated. In cancer cells, there is breakdown of these regulatory mechanisms. Normal cells show a property called cotnact inhibition by virtue of which contact of other cells inhibits their uncontrolled growth. Cancer cells appears to have lost this property. As a result of this, cancerous cells just continue to divide giving rise to masses of cells called tumors.

Tumors are of two types;

                1. Benign tumor and

                2. Malagnant tumor

Transformation of normal cells into cancerous neoplastic cells may be induced by physical,chemical or biological agents. These agents are called carcinogens.

  •  Physical carcinogens;

Ionising radiations like X-rays and gamma rays and non-ionising radiations like UV rays causes DNA damage leading to neoplast transformation.

  •  Chemical carcinogens;

The chemical carcinogen present in tobacco smoke have been identified as a major cause of lung cancer.

  •  Biological carcinogens;

Cancer causing viruses called oncogenic viruses have genes called viral oncogenes. Furthermore, several genes called cellular oncogenes (c-onc) have been identified in normal cells which, when activated under certain conditions, could lead to oncogenic transformation of the cells.  



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