What Is Cancer?
Cancer occurs when cells in the body divide and grow abnormally.
Normally, cells throughout the body divide and grow as children's' bodies develop, and as adult bodies replace old or injured cells. During this methodical system, new cells form, grow, and stop at the appropriate time. When cancer occurs, cell growth becomes uncontrolled. Often, but not always, these cancer cells form into a tumor (although not all tumors are cancerous). Early detection and treatment are very important to increasing the patient's chances of recovery.
Cancer can occur in many parts of the body, and can take many different forms. The various forms can behave very differently from one another--they may grow at differing rates, and respond to treatments differently. Cancer can also move to other parts of the body through the bloodstream or lymphatic system, but the original site of the cancerous cells determines the cancer type.
The unusual cell growth that brings about cancer is the result of damage to DNA -- the substance inside all cells that directs cell behavior. Damaged DNA can be caused by genetics, by behavior (such as smoking), or by things in the environment. Usually, the body can repair damaged DNA, but cancer cells evade this natural process.
City of Hope Cancer Center, one of just a handful of Comprehensive Cancer Centers in the United States, is dedicated to the prevention, treatment and cure of many different types of cancer.
Cancer Prevention
Through painstaking effort and years of research, scientists have been able to identify many of the causes of cancer. Today, it is believed that about 75 percent of cancer cases are tied in some way to how we live our lives. Since our lifestyle does contribute to the risk of having cancer, prevention often depends on knowing as much as possible about our own risk factors.
It’s important to remember that cancer prevention is an ongoing process.
- First, you must carefully identify lifestyle factors that might contribute to your risk of developing cancer.
- Second, you need to think about which of these lifestyle risk factors you can control.
- Third, you can begin to make simple changes in lifestyle that may help lower your cancer risk. These changes often involve choices that are made every day.
- The American Cancer Society recommends a cancer-related checkup every three years for people between the ages of 20 to 39 and annually for people age 40 or older.
Additional Information and Resources
The primary focus of this Web site is to provide information about the advanced treatment services and leading biomedical research at City of Hope. For general information on all types of cancers, as well as cancer causes and prevention, the National Cancer Institute (www.cancer.gov) and American Cancer Society (www.cancer.org) are excellent sources.