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schuetteg6
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schuetteg6
270 posts
Nomad

I dont know how cancer started.....Help me out and explain.

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Kasic
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Kasic
5,552 posts
Jester

I dont know how cancer started.....Help me out and explain.


It's always been around. It's where your cells reproduce at an out of control rate and ends in your body having no energy or the growth mass causing damage/preventing your body from functioning. As far as i'm aware, it is possible for cancer to occur in every living thing.
dair5
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dair5
3,371 posts
Shepherd

More specificly I belive there are phases of cellular reproduction. And cells with cancer skip steps in those phases so they reproduce quicker and are less efficent.

acmed
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acmed
3,517 posts
Nomad

How is it fixed?


There is no current cure for cancer. Only multiple treatments for it not to spread on infect rapidly.
dair5
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dair5
3,371 posts
Shepherd

There is no current cure for cancer. Only multiple treatments for it not to spread on infect rapidly.


I think there are some treatments for certain types of caner that involve putting a gene in your T-cells to make them ferociously attack cancer cells. And they destroy most of the cancer cells.
schuetteg6
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schuetteg6
270 posts
Nomad

How do you guys know so much about this stuff?

iMogwai
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iMogwai
2,027 posts
Peasant

How do you guys know so much about this stuff?


Some people might hear a bit about it and memorize some details, some might have a genuine interest in the subject, and some people use Google (you're writing on an ONLINE forum. Guess what else is online? EVERYTHING! (Including the answers to just about any question)).

Anyways, as to how to cure it, that's still an unsolved problem.
EmperorPalpatine
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EmperorPalpatine
9,438 posts
Jester

Anyways, as to how to cure it, that's still an unsolved problem.

There was a study that AIDS could cure it somehow. link.
knight_34
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knight_34
13,817 posts
Farmer

Cells that are deemed cancerous have a bit of a problem. Their genes which control the complex process of cell division are not functioning properly. These mutations could be inherited, or acquired (think of the damage caused by carcinogens in tobacco)

Here's a nice example of how cancer can't just be "turned on", but requires successive generations of mutations in previously healthy cells.

http://www.chemcases.com/cisplat/images/19fig1.jpg

The mutations cause the cancerous cells to multiply uncontrollably. Not only that, the mutations also prevent cells from dying when they should. You get an inconvenient mass of cancerous cells that serve no useful purpose called a tumour. Whether or not a tumour will grow aggressively and threaten a person's life, depends.

If my memory is correct, cancer has been identified since ancient times. I think it was identified by the Greeks, but the word "cancer" itself is definitely Latin. The Romans probably derived it from Greek.

How is it fixed?


Since cancer is a group of diseases, it'll be tough for scientists to come up with a single, simple cure for all forms. Though really, to get rid of cancer people use ionizing radiation, surgery and medication. It's a matter of killing those cancerous cells.
Doombreed
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Doombreed
7,022 posts
Templar

I heard that they are getting close to making a cure about it. Anyway Knight_34 is absolutely right. The cancer goes like that. Basically its just cells that do not cooperate with the other cells of the organism, they just proliferate rapidly and eventually kill the "host".

PS: The word Cancer is latin? I think it is ancient greek for "crab"(Cancer=Carcinos)

HahiHa
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HahiHa
8,253 posts
Regent

There was a study that AIDS could cure it somehow.

It's not aids directly curing cancer. It's using properties of the virus to better attack cancer cells. And it does only work for blood cancer and against metastases, at least theoretically. I think they haven't enough results yet as to be totally conclusive.
knight_34
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knight_34
13,817 posts
Farmer

PS: The word Cancer is latin? I think it is ancient greek for "crab"(Cancer=Carcinos)


I'm pretty sure Cancer is Latin because of the constellation and the word doesn't sound Greek. Though, I think the Romans derived the word from carcinos.

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The most important reason why cancers are often best treated if they are detected early, is because sometimes a cancer is able to metastasize or spread to other non-adjacent parts of the body. Some tumours are even able to penetrate blood vessels and spread to other parts of the body through the bloodstream.

As you could imagine, treating metastatic cancer would be quite difficult. It's never comforting to be told you've reached the stage where your death is inevitable.
Strop
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Strop
10,816 posts
Bard

If you wanted to be technically correct, the current model of cancer is that it requires two things: 1) a genetic predisposition within the cell to a persisting transcriptional error when dividing (known as an oncogene, and 2) some damaging stimulus that provokes said error. After all, while tobacco commonly "causes" cancer, there are others who smoke like the chimney stack of a steam train and never have a problem (NOT that I'm suggesting that this mitigates any of the health issues smoking otherwise causes via passive exposure).

The idea is that your cells have self-correcting mechanisms which recognise these errors, and quarantine/destroy the offending cells, but cancer happens when this fails, and the rate of reproduction of these cells is greater than that of surrounding cells.

There is no current cure for cancer. Only multiple treatments for it not to spread on infect rapidly.


Currently, it really depends on the type of cancer. Cancers can be classified by the type of cells they contain, the tissues that they arise in (which will partially determine what type of cells they contain... unless it's a teratoma, in which case you get a bit of absolutely everything lol), or their level of malignancy i.e. how invasive and destructive they are. Some kinds of cancer are well contained within a capsule (generally referred to as benign), or are slow spreading and have good anatomical margins, these are generally surgically resectable and have good cure rates. Chemotherapy, radiotherapy and variations (like brachytherapy) also potentially cure some types of cancer, provided that all the damaged cells have been destroyed and don't come back (known as remission), but this usually takes years of follow-up for doctors to declare with any confidence.

Since cancer is a group of diseases, it'll be tough for scientists to come up with a single, simple cure for all forms.


Genetic research is currently considered the spearhead for developing new cures for cancer, which, it is hoped, will actually be practicable cures, seeing as, from what I said earlier, genetic errors are considered the root of all cancer.
knight_34
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knight_34
13,817 posts
Farmer

Genetic research is currently considered the spearhead for developing new cures for cancer, which, it is hoped, will actually be practicable cures, seeing as, from what I said earlier, genetic errors are considered the root of all cancer.


The future is quite bright, isn't it?
pickpocket
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pickpocket
5,952 posts
Shepherd

uh cancer is just a more complex sickness. i doubt it would have been around forever. it is a living thing too that some how lives by attacking its victum and well lets not go into detail. a basic form has always been around, probably but this current one is evolved and cannot be killed by our medicines because of its evolution. as for aids, doesnt that have something to do with chimps?

Kasic
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Kasic
5,552 posts
Jester

uh cancer is just a more complex sickness. i doubt it would have been around forever. it is a living thing too that some how lives by attacking its victum and well lets not go into detail. a basic form has always been around, probably but this current one is evolved and cannot be killed by our medicines because of its evolution.


I cannot face palm hard enough. This is...the most incorrect thing I have ever heard about cancer. Can. Not. Facepalm. Enough.

1)It has been around presumably as long as complex organisms have.

2) It's you. Cancer is when your cells reproduce at an out of control rate. This eventually either impairs the body's ability to function or uses too much energy and eventually the body gives out. This is why you lose weight when you get cancer.

3) There is no "Basic" form. There are different types relating to what type of cell is reproducing at an out of control rate and whether it is spreading or harmless.

4) By Medicines, I assume you mean antibiotics. These would have no effect on cancer as antibiotics only fight bactiria. No antibiotic ever has or ever will work on cancer.

5a) AIDs is in no way related to cancer.
5b) AIDs stands for Aquired Immune Deficiency and does not directly harm you. What it does is kill your T-cells, which are pretty much the fire alarm for when harmful bactiria/viruses are in your body. Without the T-cells, the firefighters (Also know as the White Blood Cells) do not respond to the fire. This makes even a common ailment such as the cold very dangerous.

6) I believe AIDs originated in monkeys, I do not know which type or where specifically. This happened when the virus evolved and crossed species from monkeys to us, since we are very similar.
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