SALT LAKE COMMUNITY COLLEGE

CANCER
Ismael Kadilo Wa Ngoie

Cancer is the leading cause of death in North America among adults. (Collene, Smith,
Wardlaw, 2015, p.348) Looking at my family for the last generations, we had many decease, but
cancer has been the most influenced one. My research is about cancer. Cancer is a mutation in
DNA that causes rapid cell division causing tumors to form in the body. Since cancer is a genetic
decease it can be inherited from our parents. The genetic changes that contribute to cancer tend
to affect three main types of genesproto-oncogenes, tumor suppressor genes, and DNA repair
genes. These changes are sometimes called drivers of cancer. The most common treatment of
cancer are Surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. Nutrition and living an active lifestyle are ways
to lower your risk of cancers. Nutrition and physical activity has been linked to prevention of
many types of cancers. My research is based on these topics.
Cancer is the name given to a collection of related diseases. In all types of cancer, some
of the bodys cells begin to divide without stopping and spread into surrounding tissues. Cancer
can start almost anywhere in the human body, which is made up of trillions of cells. Normally,
human cells grow and divide to form new cells as the body needs them. When cells grow old or
become damaged, they die, and new cells take their place. Common symptoms of cancers are
fatigue, pain, depression and diarrhea. When cancer develops, however, this orderly process
breaks down. As cells become more and more abnormal, old or damaged cells survive when they
should die, and new cells form when they are not needed. These extra cells can divide without
stopping and may form growths called tumors.
Many cancers form solid tumors, which are masses of tissue. Cancers of the blood, such
as leukemia, generally do not form solid tumors.
Cancerous tumors are malignant, which means they can spread into, or invade, nearby tissues. In
addition, as these tumors grow, some cancer cells can break off and travel to distant places in the

body through the blood or the lymph system and form new tumors far from the original tumor.
Unlike malignant tumors, benign tumors do not spread into, or invade, nearby tissues. Benign
tumors can sometimes be quite large, however. When removed, they usually dont grow back,
whereas malignant tumors sometimes do. Unlike most benign tumors elsewhere in the body,
benign brain tumors can be life threatening (What is cancer, cancer.gov).
Cancer is a genetic diseasethat is, it is caused by changes to genes that control the way
our cells function, especially how they grow and divide.
Genetic changes that cause cancer can be inherited from our parents like in my family. They can
also arise during a persons lifetime as a result of errors that occur as cells divide or because of
damage to DNA caused by certain environmental exposures. Cancer-causing environmental
exposures include substances, such as the chemicals in tobacco smoke, and radiation, such as
ultraviolet rays from the sun. Each persons cancer has a unique combination of genetic changes.
As the cancer continues to grow, additional changes will occur. Even within the same tumor,
different cells may have different genetic changes.
In general, cancer cells have more genetic changes, such as mutations in DNA, than normal cells.
Some of these changes may have nothing to do with the cancer; they may be the result of the
cancer, rather than its cause. (Beerenwinkel, Greenman, Lagergren,2016)
Proto-oncogenes are involved in normal cell growth and division. However, when these
genes are altered in certain ways or are more active than normal, they may become cancercausing genes (or oncogenes), allowing cells to grow and survive when they should not.
Tumor suppressor genes are also involved in controlling cell growth and division. Cells with
certain alterations in tumor suppressor genes may divide in an uncontrolled manner.
DNA repair genes are involved in fixing damaged DNA. Cells with mutations in these genes tend

to develop additional mutations in other genes. Together, these mutations may cause the cells to
become cancerous.
As scientists have learned more about the molecular changes that lead to cancer, they have found
that certain mutations commonly occur in many types of cancer. Because of this, cancers are
sometimes characterized by the types of genetic alterations that are believed to be driving them,
not just by where they develop in the body and how the cancer cells look under the microscope.
Surgery is often the first treatment option if the tumor can be taken out of the body.
Sometimes only part of the tumor can be removed. Radiation, chemotherapy, or both might be
used to shrink the tumor before or after surgery. Doctors use chemotherapy (or chemo) to kill
cancer cells. The term chemotherapy refers to the use of drugs to kill cancer cells. Usually, the
drugs are given into a vein (or IV) or theyre taken by mouth. Chemo drugs then travel through
the body in the bloodstream, reaching cancer cells that may have spread (metastasized) from the
tumor to other places in the body. (Nayak, George, Vidyasagar, Mathew, Kamath, p 6, 2015)
Radiation therapy uses high energy rays (like x-rays) to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors. The
radiation may come from outside the body (external radiation) or from radioactive materials put
right into the tumor (internal or implant radiation). Getting external radiation is much like getting
an x-ray. The radiation itself is painless, but tissue damage may cause side effects. (Collene,
Smith, Wardlaw, 2015, p. 350)
Researchers argue that, nutrition is the main factor causing cancer. Poor nutrition and its
sequelae (obesity, physical inactivity and alcohol intake) probably represent the most important
contributing factors to increased cancer risk after smoking. (Corse, 2014, p. 24) Physical
activity and diets rich in nutrients have been proven to lower risks of cancer. Physical Activity
has many positive effects on the body. When living an active lifestyle your body has a better

chance to ward off chronic diseases. The bodys immunity is in better condition which then
contributes to the cells health and aid off DNA mutations that lead to cancer. As studies
continue to reveal how individual foods and food components play a role in cancer risk, one
point that AICRs Foods that Fight Cancer makes clear: no single food can prevent cancer. What
research clearly shows is that overweight and obesity increases cancer risk, and diet plays a
critical role in weight. (Foods that Fight Cancer: In the Lab and the Kitchen. (2011). AICR
Science Now, (38), 3-3 1p.)
In conclusion, I have seen many people dying because of cancer. According to the
American diet and sedentary more that seventeen millions of people are affected by cancer every
year. Since they havent found the cure of cancer most of those who survive usually people say it
is miracles. The best prevention of cancers is trying to make healthy choices every day. From our
nutrition choices instead of over high calorie we can choose nutrient dense food. Being obese
increases risks for developing cancer more than anything else. Cancer is a disease that effects our
cells and causes them to rapidly grow which leads to tumors and overcrowding of functional
cells and causes damage. We can encourage our family or people we know who have cancer to
pursuit a treatment even though, we do not have a cure yet, we have treatments that can help
reduce the spreading of the cancer.

References

Foods that Fight Cancer: In the Lab and the Kitchen. (2011). AICR Science Now, (38), 3-3 1p.
Collene, A.L., Smith, A.M., Wardlaw, G. M., (2015). Contemporary Nutrition: A Functional
Approach, p. 350, Edition 4, Mcgraw Hill Education
What is cancer, National Cancer Institute. https://www.cancer.gov/aboutcancer/understanding/what-is-cancer
Beerenwinkel, N., Greenman, C. D., & Lagergren, J. (2016). Computational Cancer Biology: An
Evolutionary Perspective. Plos Computational Biology, 12(2), p 1-2. doi:10.1371/ journal.
pcbi.1004717
Corse, A. (2014). Examining current evidence for the association between diet and cancer
prevention. Journal Of The Australian Traditional-Medicine Society, 20(1), 24-27 4p.
Nayak, M. G., George, A., Vidyasagar, M. S., Mathew, S., Nayak, S., Nayak, B. S., & ... Kamath,
A. (2015). Symptoms Experienced by Cancer Patients and Barriers to Symptom Management.
Indian Journal Of Palliative Care, 21(3), 349-354 6p. doi: 10.4103/0973-1075.164893