BY: TIANNA SNYDER CANCER’S CAUSE

HOW IS ‘CANCER’ DEFINED? WHAT IS IT? Cancer is when cells in the body become abnormal and then divide uncontrollably and invade different tissues in the body. Then those cancerous cells spread to the rest of the body through the blood stream. There are about 100 different types of known cancers, so there isn’t just one. “Cancer” essentially is a group of diseases that affect the body, and which ever part is infected is where most of the names of cancers stem from, whether it be organ or cell. Example being the Cervix – Cervical cancer. There are so many types of cancers that they are grouped into different categories, like Sarcoma which starts in the bone, cartilage, fat, muscle, blood vessels or other connective tissue. Others include, Central nervous system cancers – which start in the brain and spinal cord tissues. Leukemia – starts in blood-forming tissues like bone marrow which then causes large quantities of abnormal blood cells that venture into the blood. Carcinoma – is a type of cancer that starts in the skin or the tissue that cover internal organs. Lymphoma and myeloma – effects the cells in the immune system

CONTRIBUTIONS TO CANCER: FACTORS Many things can contribute to the development of cancer, like tobacco, sun, radiation, hazardous work places, and asbestos. A person can avoid certain health risks to getting cancer, but there are others that are unavoidable, like in your genes that you obtained from just being born. cancerhelp.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/causes-symptoms/causes/what-causes-cancer

FACTORS: WHAT IS A CARCINOGEN AND WHY DOES IT CAUSE CANCER? A ‘carcinogen’ is a cancer causing agent in living tissue, found in cigarettes and tobacco. When inhaled or “ingested”, over time it can accumulate and cause cancer. When a carcinogen enters the body, it begins to alter the DNA in cells, disrupting the biological processes it goes through. Normally if the cell has an error, it will be repaired. If it can’t, it dies—But if the carcinogen damage interferes with that process, then it can’t die and that damaged cell undergoes cell division and spreads throughout the body. Certain cells in the body(Like breast tissue, lining of the stomach and skin)are very vulnerable to carcinogens because of the harmful DNA as it copies, and becomes infected and turns into Cancer.

FACTORS: HEREDITARY GENES Inherited genes give the risk of cancer. It doesn’t mean they have it, but it puts them at a higher risk than those without those genes. An example is a woman born with a BRCA mutation gene for breast cancer. It doesn’t mean she has it, but it puts her at a higher risk for getting it.

FACTORS: DNA DAMAGE AND IT’S CONNECTION TO CANCER Some mutations that cause cancer are actually self- amplified and combine rather quickly, for example; In a cell and its cell offspring, because of a mutation, an error would occur inside the cell and would begin to accumulate quickly. Error signals can be sent to other cells by one cell because of a mutation. Healthy cells can become disrupted and migrate because of neoplastic cells that formed from a mutation. An immortal cell can occur because of a mutation which disrupts healthy cells forever.

FACTORS: AGE As one gets older, the body changes and becomes more vulnerable to diseases and infections, which can lead to cancer. The longer that someone lives, for example 50, their body has accumulated already lots of cancer-causing faults in their DNA.

As one gets older, the risk for cancer is higher because of the bodies vulnerability over time, which can lead to a lower survival rate.

FACTORS: VIRUSES AND INFECTIONS Some viruses that someone catches over time are known to be linked with certain types of cancers. For example, HPV(Human papilloma virus) is a major cause for Cervical cancer. Others include; Hepatitis B and C – Liver Cancer Human T-cell leukemia virus – Leukemia Epstein-Barr virus or EBV – Carcinomas and Lymphomas Human immunodeficiency virus(HIV) weakens the immune system, so it’s tied to several types of cancers. And Kaposi sarcoma virus or KSV, which can lead to a soft tissue type cancer.

CANCEROUS FACTS 13% of deaths worldwide, died of cancer in That’s 7.6 million people. A little over 550,000 of deaths in the U.S are because of Cancer(truecancerfacts.com) 70% of these cancer related deaths happen in low and middle income countries In the world, the 5 common types of cancer that kill males are(In order by how often someone dies from it): Lung, stomach, liver, colorectal and esophagus. For woman, it’s; Breast, lung, stomach, colorectal and cervical. Tobacco, which can be prevented, is the single largest cause of cancer in the world. 1/5 of every cancer in the world are caused by a chronic infection, like HPV causing Cervical cancer. Over 30% of cancer related diseases can be cured if detected early on and treated correctly.

CANCER STATISTICS

CANCEROUS FACTS CONT. There was a 50% survival rate in the 1970’s. Then, in 2004, it went up to 66% million Americans were estimated with a history of cancer, and by 2030 it’s expected to reach 20 million. Every year, approx. 7.5 million of the worlds deaths are cancer related, and by year 2030 it’s estimated that it’ll reach 12 million. Environment factors have caused approx. 80% of cancer cases, which could have been prevented.

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