• Question: how did cancer form?:(

    Asked by caitlin044 to Angus, Christian, Hannah, Laura, Simon on 18 Jun 2013. This question was also asked by sweepybear11.
    • Photo: Simon Holyoake

      Simon Holyoake answered on 18 Jun 2013:

      Primarily cancer is caused by unregulated cell growth, in normal operation, cells divide and multiply a limited number of times, this is controlled by the DNA within, when this DNA becomes damaged (from radiation exposure, chemicals, sunlight) it can lead to cells reproducing with no control and limitations, eventually growing into tumours and other structures

    • Photo: Angus Ferraro

      Angus Ferraro answered on 18 Jun 2013:

      Simon’s answer explains it well. Sometimes cells in your body go mad and don’t work normally. It’s not very nice 🙁

    • Photo: Christian Maerz

      Christian Maerz answered on 18 Jun 2013:

      Agreed with the previous answers. In addition, there seem to be certain parameters in the environment that support the development of cancer of various sorts – nutrition, smoking, alcohol, but also genetic pre-disposition seem to play a big role.

    • Photo: Laura Roberts Artal

      Laura Roberts Artal answered on 19 Jun 2013:

      Simon is right, he has explined it well.
      It seems cancer has been around for a long time. Only a couple of weeks ago archaeologists found bones from early hominids that had suffered bone cancer and it seems the results of the disease were very similar to what you would expect to see in a patient with bone cancer today.

Comments

  • Photo: caitlin044

    caitlin044 commented on :

    Thank you x

  • Photo: Simon

    Simon commented on :

    Great extra points from Christian and Laura there!

    Another factor may well be age, as you age, your body becomes less able to repair and maintain itself, which means cellular damage is more likely to lead to cancer, it’s why people are typically much more ‘at risk’ from cancer when they are over 50 years old, cancer was not the problem in the past because many people did not live to be as old as they do now, and were more likely to die from other factors (war, disease, starvation)

    Certain medical conditions can make a person much more susceptible to cancer as well

  • Photo: bvbarmy1234

    bvbarmy1234 commented on :

    I have heard that scientists have been studying naked mole rats as they are immune to cancer…they are studying the molecules that make them immune to cancer…hopefully creating either a cure or a immunity shot