• Question: How do cancer cells form?

    Asked by Thalia to Sophie, Hannah on 19 Jul 2023.
    • Photo: Hannah Scholes

      Hannah Scholes answered on 19 Jul 2023:

      Usually the body only has a certain number of any one type of cell, and when it goes above this number, the oldest cells stop replicating and die (in processes called senescence – when the cells stop replicating, and apoptosis – ‘controlled cell death’). In most cases, this is what keeps on happening and everything is fine.

      But sometimes cells ‘go rogue’ and turn into cancer cells…

      Cancer cells can form in lots of different ways, but usually from some kind of change (mutation) in their DNA which allows them to get around these processes and keep on replicating even when they shouldn’t (I sometimes say that they’ve ‘gone rogue’!) so your body will just keep making more and more of them which then form a lump (tumour).

      Cancer Research UK gives a pretty good explanation of it, if you want to find out a bit more. 😊

      https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/what-is-cancer/how-cancer-starts

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