• Question: How does cancer spread through your body?

    Asked by jordanfarmer to Lyn, Katy, Paul, PB, Ruth on 20 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: Peter Balfe

      Peter Balfe answered on 20 Jun 2013:

      As cancer cells grow, they tend to lose the molecular glue that holds them together, These adhesion molecules (called adhesins,- so imaginative!), keep cells in place in the organ. A detached cancer cell can be carried away in the bloodstream and end up re-attaching almost anywhere and continue to grow, these are called metastases.
      Once this has happened the cancer grows everywhere and chances of survival drop away, which is why early detection of cancer is so so important!

    • Photo: Katy Brown

      Katy Brown answered on 20 Jun 2013:

      Cancer can also spread locally just by growing into nearby areas, if the tissue surrounding it is soft enough for it to push through. As cancer is just cells growing uncontrollably, the more it grows the more pressure it will put on the tissue around it, and it will find the easiest way to reduce this, which might mean pushing through softer tissue into a nearby area.

    • Photo: Paul Waines

      Paul Waines answered on 25 Jun 2013:

      cancers are cells that are not growing properly. As the tumours grow bigger, cells lose their ‘stickability’ and can become unstuck, before being carried around by the bloodstream until they find somewhere else to settle. Early diagnosis is important to stop this from happening.

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