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Cancer cell. Cancer cells are cells that divide continually, forming solid tumors or flooding the blood or lymph with abnormal cells. Cell division is a normal process used by the body for growth and repair. A parent cell divides to form two daughter cells, and these daughter cells are used to build new tissue or to replace cells that have died ...
Somatic evolution in cancer. Somatic evolution is the accumulation of mutations and epimutations in somatic cells (the cells of a body, as opposed to germ plasm and stem cells) during a lifetime, and the effects of those mutations and epimutations on the fitness of those cells. This evolutionary process has first been shown by the studies of ...
Each mutation alters the behavior of the cell somewhat. Carcinogenesis, also called oncogenesis or tumorigenesis, is the formation of a cancer, whereby normal cells are transformed into cancer cells. The process is characterized by changes at the cellular, genetic, and epigenetic levels and abnormal cell division.
Cancer is caused by genetic changes leading to uncontrolled cell growth and tumor formation. The basic cause of sporadic (non-familial) cancers is DNA damage and genomic instability. [1] [2] A minority of cancers are due to inherited genetic mutations. [3] Most cancers are related to environmental, lifestyle, or behavioral exposures. [4]
Somatic mutation. A somatic mutation is a change in the DNA sequence of a somatic cell of a multicellular organism with dedicated reproductive cells; that is, any mutation that occurs in a cell other than a gamete, germ cell, or gametocyte. Unlike germline mutations, which can be passed on to the descendants of an organism, somatic mutations ...
Cancer cells must be capable of continuous proliferation and self-renewal to retain the many mutations required for carcinogenesis and to sustain the growth of a tumor, since differentiated cells (constrained by the Hayflick Limit [20]) cannot divide indefinitely. For therapeutic consideration, if most tumor cells are endowed with stem cell ...
Oncogenomics. Oncogenomics is a sub-field of genomics that characterizes cancer -associated genes. It focuses on genomic, epigenomic and transcript alterations in cancer. Cancer is a genetic disease caused by accumulation of DNA mutations and epigenetic alterations leading to unrestrained cell proliferation and neoplasm formation.
An oncogene is a gene that has the potential to cause cancer. [1] In tumor cells, these genes are often mutated, or expressed at high levels. [2] Most normal cells undergo a preprogrammed rapid cell death ( apoptosis) if critical functions are altered and then malfunction. Activated oncogenes can cause those cells designated for apoptosis to ...