The "C" Word

You have probably heard of the word “cancer”, but do you understand how it works? The video below will give you an introduction to how cancer works and why it is hard to treat.

While watching, think about the following questions:

What is an oncogene and how is it dangerous for a cell?
How does cancer spread? What characteristics of a cancer cell allow this?

Why Cancer?

Cancer is a disease where cells grow uncontrollably. Cancer cells can infiltrate and disrupt the growth of important tissues in the body with tumors, use blood supply and resources, and may ultimately cause death.

Watch the presentation below to learn more about cancer.

Mutation

The diagram below shows one possible way a mutation can cause cancer.

In a perfect world, cells can regulate their cycles so that the organism maintains a healthy rate of growth and repair. Cells do this in a number of ways by controlling what cells move through the cell cycle and when by repairing damage to DNA and by stopping or slowing erratic growth.

Cancer is caused by the mutations (or a change to DNA) of a combination of genes. Sometimes these mutations are inherited. Sometimes mutations are caused by mutagens in our environment.

Sometimes cancer is described as hundreds of diseases rather than just one. This is because the cause of cancer can originate in different types of cells and at different genes within those cells that normally regulate the cell cycle correctly.

Cancer Challenge and Before You Go

Practice Time! Use the knowledge you learned from the lesson to complete the practice activities below.

Before You Go - You Need To Know

The following key points are from the explore section of the lesson. You must know the following information before moving to the next lesson. This is just a summary of the key points.

What is a mutation?
- A change in the DNA sequence
What is cancer?
- The uncontrollable growth of cells, which can cause tumors in tissues.
How do mutations occur?
- They are either inherited or caused by a mutagen in the environment.

IMAGES CREATED BY GAVS (FREEPIK)