Cancer Essay (Biology)

Cancer What is cancer? Cancer is a disease caused by an uncontrolled division of unusual cells in a part of the body. It is a disease of mitosis, which begins when one cell is transformed from a normal cell to a cancerous cell. Mitosis is a type of cell division which has 6 steps (Interphase, Prophase, Metaphase, Anaphase, Telophase, and Cytokinesis) that result in two daughter cells that are clones of the parent. Cancerous cells do not abide by the normal instructions of mitosis. Instead, the cells speed through many of these stages and continue to divide excessively. In a typical cell cycle, there are about 3 check points. The first checkpoint is in the first resting phase, and then the cell starts synthesis. The next checkpoint is after another resting stage, if the cell is big enough, and has a suitable environment, then the cell will start mitosis. The next check point is the metaphase check point, where you must make sure that the chromosomes are aligned on the spindle. Then, the cycle goes into repeat. In cancerous cells, the cells would speed through these checkpoints and go into division. Normal cells and cancerous cells are very different. Besides the fact that cancerous cells can be fatal, there are a lot of other differences. For example, normal cells have a large cytoplasm, while cancerous cells have a small cytoplasm. Normal cells have a single nucleus, while cancerous cells have multiple nuclei. Cancerous cells have coarse chromatin, and normal cells have fine chromatin. There are over 200 types of cancer in our world today. Some of the most popular forms of cancer are breast cancer and kidney cancer. Breast cancer is a tumor that develops in your breasts. Your breasts become sore and lumpy. This is most common in women; however, men can also get breast cancer. Kidney cancer is cancer that begins in the kidneys. When you have kidney cancer, your kidneys hurt badly, and it is hard to pass urine and other substances. There are many factors