Читать книгу The Cancer Directory - Dr. Daniel Rosy - Страница 81

To understand cancer, we need to think about the construction of the body. About one thousand billion cells are needed to make a person. Each cell carries information on how to function from the time it is developed till the time it is supposed to die. Depending on where it is situated in the body, the cells of different tissues are specialized to have different functions. A muscle cell has tiny molecular ropes that allow it to contract, so pulling other structures to cause a movement. A skin cell has a tough waterproof coat to protect us from the environment, while a liver cell is a chemical refinery that is continuously clearing the blood of potential poisons.

All organisms, including man, grow from a single cell that splits into two in a process called ‘mitosis’. In health, the two new cells are identical to the one they came from. These two daughter cells then divide to form four cells, then eight, and so on. In most people, the cells work in perfect harmony, but sometimes they go wrong. If a cell dies, then one of its many identical kin takes over its job.

But if a cell starts to grow and divide in an abnormal way, problems may arise. The information carried in the cell’s DNA, the thread of life, becomes altered, forming an abnormal cell with abnormal growth patterns. This is called ‘malignant transformation’ and is the first change towards cancer. The abnormal cell continues to grow, but does not mature properly, and has characteristics that differ from its healthy parent cell. As this cell reproduces, over time, each new generation of cells becomes a little less like the cell it originated from and, thus, less effective at performing its designated tasks. Cancer cells can develop because the DNA in the cell nucleus has been damaged by either radiation, chemical toxins or viral infection. This is more likely to happen in tissues that are inflamed and poorly nourished due to a low blood and oxygen supply.