Heredity

Most forms of cancer are "sporadic", and have no basis in heredity. There are, however, a number of recognised syndromes of cancer with a hereditary component, often a defective tumor suppressor allele. Famous examples are:

* certain inherited mutations in the genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 are associated with an elevated risk of breast cancer and ovarian cancer
* tumors of various endocrine organs in multiple endocrine neoplasia (MEN types 1, 2a, 2b)
* Li-Fraumeni syndrome (various tumors such as osteosarcoma, breast cancer, soft tissue sarcoma, brain tumors) due to mutations of p53
* Turcot syndrome (brain tumors and colonic polyposis)
* Familial adenomatous polyposis an inherited mutation of the APC gene that leads to early onset of colon carcinoma.
* Hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC, also known as Lynch syndrome) can include familial cases of colon cancer, uterine cancer, gastric cancer, and ovarian cancer, without a preponderance of colon polyps.
* Retinoblastoma, when occurring in young children, is due to a hereditary mutation in the retinoblastoma gene.
* Down syndrome patients, who have an extra chromosome 21, are known to develop malignancies such as leukemia and testicular cancer, though the reasons for this difference are not well understood.

Defenition

Cancer (medical term: malignant neoplasm) is a class of diseases in which a group of cells display uncontrolled growth (division beyond the normal limits), invasion (intrusion on and destruction of adjacent tissues), and sometimes metastasis (spread to other locations in the body via lymph or blood). These three malignant properties of cancers differentiate them from benign tumors, which are self-limited, do not invade or metastasize. Most cancers form a tumor but some, like leukemia, do not. The branch of medicine concerned with the study, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of cancer is oncology.

Cancer may affect people at all ages, even fetuses, but the risk for most varieties increases with age. Cancer causes about 13% of all deaths. According to the American Cancer Society, 7.6 million people died from cancer in the world during 2007.Cancers can affect all animals.

Nearly all cancers are caused by abnormalities in the genetic material of the transformed cells[citation needed]. These abnormalities may be due to the effects of carcinogens, such as tobacco smoke, radiation, chemicals, or infectious agents. Other cancer-promoting genetic abnormalities may be randomly acquired through errors in DNA replication, or are inherited, and thus present in all cells from birth. The heritability of cancers are usually affected by complex interactions between carcinogens and the host's genome. New aspects of the genetics of cancer pathogenesis, such as DNA methylation, and microRNAs are increasingly recognized as important.

Genetic abnormalities found in cancer typically affect two general classes of genes. Cancer-promoting oncogenes are typically activated in cancer cells, giving those cells new properties, such as hyperactive growth and division, protection against programmed cell death, loss of respect for normal tissue boundaries, and the ability to become established in diverse tissue environments. Tumor suppressor genes are then inactivated in cancer cells, resulting in the loss of normal functions in those cells, such as accurate DNA replication, control over the cell cycle, orientation and adhesion within tissues, and interaction with protective cells of the immune system.

Diagnosis usually requires the histological examination of a tissue biopsy specimen by a pathologist, although the initial indication of malignancy can be symptoms or radio graphic imaging abnormalities. Most cancers can be treated and some cured, depending on the specific type, location, and stage. Once diagnosed, cancer is usually treated with a combination of surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. As research develops, treatments are becoming more specific for different varieties of cancer. There has been significant progress in the development of targeted therapy drugs that act specifically on detectable molecular abnormalities in certain tumors, and which minimize damage to normal cells. The prognosis of cancer patients is most influenced by the type of cancer, as well as the stage, or extent of the disease. In addition, histologic grading and the presence of specific molecular markers can also be useful in establishing prognosis, as well as in determining individual treatments.

Life as the Goal

Prevention involves lifestyle, activity, environment, employment, housing, habits, access to medical care and awareness, with the goal of decreasing your chance of developing disease. This is more than just diet and exercise; it is a complete way of living with high standards that can not only decrease your chance of developing cancer but overall make you healthier, more energetic, and more beautiful from the inside out. Secondary prevention, also known as screening, involves routing medical tests designed to find cancer at an early and curable stage. The combination of primary and secondary prevention creates a powerful and protective shield against cancer.

As prevention is not systematically embedded in our society or even in our medical practice, it is left to our own initiative. Most people go to a doctor only when there is a problem to be fixed. We react to events and we rarely visit the doctor when all is fine. As a result, many physicians become so good at fixing problems that they don’t always know what to do with healthy person who wants to stay that way. Not all have been trained in the nuances of prevention. Your physician may not have all the necessary information or even time to discuss it while you are there seeking treatment for an identifiable ailment. A survey of Americans and their colorectal cancer screening practices found that inadequate communication between patient and health-care provider was the main reason patients were not being screened and these are screening practices that are widely known and have been proven to save lives. In fact, over 60% of eligible adults do not participate in proven life-saving colon cancer screening!

Preventive guidance from a physician can save lives, but we know that this communication between physicians and patients does not always take place. The important point for anyone interested in cancer prevention is that it serves you well to be inquisitive and proactive. Studies show that awareness of the benefits of screening contributed to people getting screened. So where does one find this essential prevention information? The media can be a poor source, with its noisy sound bites designed to get you to watch, do, or buy something. Very often, premature research that does not even apply to humans is announced, only confusing and diluting what we should all do to keep healthy. Even worse are the Internet sites that promote philosophies and approaches not based on proof, but on people’s unsubstantiated ideas. The goal of this blog is to help every interested person understand how to prevent cancer, with a clear understanding of how these recommendations have evolved based on science. Then if your physician doesn’t get to these subjects first, you cn bring them up. This also holds true for screening. If you never visit your doctor or discuss these finer issues of disease prevention, how will you know that you should start life-saving screening for colon cancer at age 50?

Another aspect of prevention is the awareness of wich symptoms need medical attention. For example, if you have had a change in your bowel habits, such as constipation alternating with diarrhea, or if you have a sore on your forehead that that does not heal, these are red flags to go to your physician for any evaluation. This will also reassure you of the non- cancer causes of those symptoms as well, because, contrary to your imagination, cancer is not the only possible cause of your symptoms.

Although the focus is on cancer, you will simultaneously be educated on heart and lung diseases, stroke, diabetes, infections and other degenerative diseases of life. Adopting a cancer-free lifestyle simultaneously prevents more than just caner.

Join the War against the Cancer

Consider this a letter from the front lines. There is a war going on and the casualties are too many. The war is against cancer. Although we win battles daily in hospitals all over the globe, it is not clear that we can win the war. As a medical oncologist in the trenches, I am frustrated. At this time, we do not have cures from most forms of cancer. For some forms, we manage at best to offer a few good months or years to our patients. For the time being, the best defense is prevention. Furthermore, regular screening can catch a cancer at an early stage if it escapes our initial prevention front. The earlier a cancer is diagnosed, the greater the chance is for a cure, so the combination of prevention and screening is our best chance for not becoming a casualty of cancer.

This article is my personal effort to fight cancer by presenting most of what is known about cancer prevention and screening in a single place. Within it you ill find medically proven and practical day-to-day lifecycle changes that will improve your health, energy and quality of life while protecting you from cancer. Your will learn the early warning signs for which to seek medical attention so that early diagnosis, cure and preservation of quality of life medical research to lower our risk of cancer dramatically. United in this effort, we can disarm caner in the most peaceful way by never letting it happen.