 |
 |
|
|
Causes of Cancer |
Detecting Cancer |
Reducing Your Risk of Canccer |
Glossary of Terms
Cancer Basics
Defining Cancer
Every minute, ten million cells divide in the human body. Normally, cell division, accompanied by growth and specialized development, takes place in an orderly pattern. But when a cell becomes malignant, it acts in profoundly abnormal ways.
Cancer develops from a single cell that has undergone mutations in its DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), the genetic material which carries the body's hereditary instructions. Instead of maturing normally and dying, cancerous cells reproduce without restraint. It's not that they divide faster, but that they never stop dividing, and they fail to mature. When removed from the body and placed in a laboratory dish with nutrients, they actually seem to be immortal.
The Word “Cancer”
Hippocrates, the ancient Greek physician, is credited with being the first to recognize the difference between benign and malignant tumors.
The invasion of tumors so reminded him of crab claws that he called the disease karkinos, the Greek name for crab. In English this term survives as carcinoma.
The English language also adopted the word cancer, which is the Latin word for crab.
|
|
|
|