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Cancer can start with a single mutinous cell in the body that secretly begins to divide abnormally. Years later, it makes itself felt much more acutely. Cancer cells begin to multiply without the body's control and penetrate into he althy tissues. See how cancer grows.

First of all, we know the development mechanisms more and morecancer . Secondly, we know what promotes cancer and what protects against it. Third, we can detect it quickly and treat it effectively.

Cancer: how it starts

In order for our individual anti-cancer program to live up to expectations, we need to understand some basic truths.Cancerdoes not begin with the first symptoms. Everything begins many years earlier, in great secret from the host, that is our organism. It is enough for only one cell to rebel - it will start dividing incorrectly and the misfortune is ready. Cancer can be diagnosed when it has 1 billion cells and weighs about 1 gram. It achieves such a mass after years, eg in the case of breast cancer - after 8, and in bronchial cancer - after 15. Before the number of cells increases to a thousand and the neoplastic lesion becomes permanent, it can be annihilated. Hence the need for regular preventive examinations, maintaining a proper diet, limiting stimulants and avoiding unnecessary stress.

How does cancer develop

Cells clustered in tissues tend to be docile. Without outside encouragement, they don't try to reproduce, they don't move around in search of a better place to live, and when they feel old or tired, they immediately commit suicide. Maintaining this pattern ensures that all organs and organs of our body are of the correct size and structure. Thanks to this, the body is efficient and develops properly. Everything runs smoothly until the cell loses control over its functions and instead of cooperating with others for the common good, it begins to create a specific state within the state. He begins to live his life, colonizing new areas. This is how the cancer process begins.

Important

How can cancer manifest itself? 15 important signals

  • constant headache
  • seizures
  • enlarged lymph nodes in the neck and armpits
  • hoarseness or difficulty swallowing lasting more than 3 yearsweeks
  • constant cough, shortness of breath
  • blood coagulation disorders
  • abdominal enlargement
  • change in the appearance of pigmented nevi
  • changing the rhythm of bowel movements
  • loss of appetite, unreasonable weight loss, anemia, weakness
  • nausea, vomiting,
  • general depression, drowsiness

additionally for men:

  • testicular swelling

additionally for women:

  • breast lump, change in skin appearance or so-called retraction of the nipple and leakage of fluid from the nipple
  • upławy
  • bleeding

Cancer grows against the genome

Processes that take place in a cell are programmed into genes. They decide about its growth, division or decomposition time of carcinogens reaching its interior. The more of them (because we smoke cigarettes, eat poorly prepared food), the more free radicals in our body - molecules that react with DNA and contribute to the creation of genetic mutations. In some of us, mutations accelerate the inherited predisposition to change one or more genes. The consequences for the cell are dire - it loses control over its functions and degenerates. From the outside, it looks like it used to be, but inside it is chaos. If genes responsible for metabolism are mutated, the cell dies and the body is not lost. However, if the mutation concerns genes responsible for growth or division - the cell does not even think about committing suicide. On the contrary - it fires up its security systems that guarantee its immortality, and from then on it splits up wildly and at an accelerated pace. A tumor begins to form in the body.

Self-defense against cancer fails

As long as the cell is not clearly damaged, the body cannot rely on the immune system, the guardian of order, because it does not receive any threat signals. Like policemen, T lymphocytes that guard the nooks and crannies of our body only destroy cells when they perceive abnormalities in their structure. They are helpless in the face of cancer, because the first genetic mutation does not change the appearance of cells, but only their number. Only subsequent mutations cause dysplasia, i.e. cell degeneration. But despite this, no antigens appear on its surface that would attract the attention of the immune system, alert the lymphocytes and force them to destroy misfits. Such a process may take place in our body for several, several or even several dozen years. Subsequent mutations make the cells more and more different from the original and from one another. The fittest are outlived by creatinga tumor out of a billion cells. It is called cancer in situ or pre-invasive cancer.

Cancer tricks the immune system

The tumor is surrounded by blood vessels, thanks to which it receives oxygen and nutrients, just like he althy cells. Until it forces the surrounding endothelium to produce additional vessels, the number of cancer cells increases slowly, as some of them simply starve to death. Eventually, new vessels form, and when food is no longer available, it begins to grow. Why can't the immune system see it? Now, cancer cells are not only very strong, but also cunning. Some of them have antigens (to simplify - a set of features characteristic only for them and for the organism in which they occur) present in a he althy organism, i.e. those that the immune system does not consider to be dangerous. Others can hide their features beneath the surface of he althy cells. They can also induce local immunosuppression, i.e. inhibit the immune process. Still others kill the immune cells that attack them by directing them to the path of apoptosis, i.e. programmed suicide.

Benign or malignant neoplasm?

If the mutant cells do not break the bonds with their own tissue, the cancer is benign. Regardless of the size, it is not life threatening. It can be surgically removed. A malignant tumor takes many years to develop without showing any signs of existence. Until recently, cancer could feel with impunity. Doctors did not know the stages of its development and they fought it a bit blindly. It's different today. An enemy can be identified at a very early stage of development and defeated in many ways. However, you have to give yourself and the doctors a chance to detect it.

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Category:

Oncology