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| Cancer Biology and Therapy |
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| Cancer is characterised by uncontrolled growth and division of certain body tissues, so forming a tumour. It is one of the major killers today. |
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| Normally cell division is a regulated process. Mature cells are replaced by new cells produced by cell division and differentiation. Due to altered gene activity, normal control mechanism is lost and the abnormal cell growth and cell - division takes place. When cells in some area of the body duplicate unusually quickly, the excess of tissue that develops is called a growth or tumour. The physical and chemical agents, which induce cancer growth are called carcinogens. |
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| The study of tumours is called Oncology. |
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| The word cancer does not refer to a single disease but number of changes or mal functions of the body. Cancer is not a contagious disease nor it is an inherited one, but it is known that the chance of a person getting cancer increases if any of the parents or siblings had suffered from it. |
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| A tumour may or may not be cancerous. The tumours are of two types: |
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| 1) Benign or non-malignant tumours and |
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| 2) Cancerous or malignant tumours. |
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| In the beginning, the cancerous cells picked up by the lymphatic systems are attacked and killed but a stage comes when these cells survive the attack and start multiplying in the lymph nodes. Now they spread to various parts of the body and become almost impossible to control. |
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