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Although there are over 50 identifiable hereditary forms of cancer, less than 0.3% of the population are carriers of a cancer-related genetic mutation and these make up less than 3–10% of all cancer cases. [3] The vast majority of cancers are non-hereditary ("sporadic cancers"). Hereditary cancers are primarily caused by an inherited genetic ...
The central role of DNA damage and epigenetic defects in DNA repair genes in carcinogenesis. DNA damage is considered to be the primary cause of cancer. [17] More than 60,000 new naturally-occurring instances of DNA damage arise, on average, per human cell, per day, due to endogenous cellular processes (see article DNA damage (naturally occurring)).
Cancer cells have unique features that make them "immortal" according to some researchers. The enzyme telomerase is used to extend the cancer cell's life span. While the telomeres of most cells shorten after each division, eventually causing the cell to die, telomerase extends the cell's telomeres. This is a major reason that cancer cells can ...
Because cancer is a class of diseases, [7] [253] it is unlikely that there will ever be a single "cure for cancer" any more than there will be a single treatment for all infectious diseases. [254] Angiogenesis inhibitors were once incorrectly thought to have potential as a "silver bullet" treatment applicable to many types of cancer. [255]
A newly identified colon cancer gene may drive the disease by making the environment in the vicinity of tumors more hospitable to them, researchers say. Why does colon cancer grow so fast? Study ...
Cancer cells have defects in the control mechanisms that govern how often they divide, and in the feedback systems that regulate these control mechanisms (i.e. defects in homeostasis). Normal cells grow and divide, but have many controls on that growth. They only grow when stimulated by growth factors.
In cancers, loss of expression of genes occurs about 10 times more frequently by transcription silencing (caused by somatically heritable promoter hypermethylation of CpG islands) than by mutations. As Vogelstein et al. point out, in a colorectal cancer there are usually about 3 to 6 driver mutations and 33 to 66 hitchhiker or passenger ...
Although different animal tissues grow at different rates and produce organs of very different proportions, the overall growth rate of the entire animal body can be modulated by circulating hormones of the Insulin/IGF-1 family, which activate the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway in many cells of the body to increase the average rate of both cell growth and cell division, leading to increased cell ...