Читать книгу Overcome the Challenges of Cancer Care - M. D. Rosenberg - Страница 11

Have you ever had a sore throat with swollen glands?

Those swollen glands are called lymph nodes. Lymph nodes are home to the immune system, and they reside all over your body. There are hundreds of them in the neck alone!

When a person is exposed to a virus or bacteria (an invading microbe), the immune system takes that infection to a lymph node. In the lymph node, the white blood cells (immune cells) present the invader to the rest of the immune system. The immune system will then be able to recognize the invader throughout the rest of the body.

Priming of the immune system (exposing it to the bacteria) leads to swelling of the lymph nodes. This is because the immune cells are growing and getting ready to spread throughout the body to hunt down the bacterial invaders. In response to an infection, lymph nodes often seem red, are painful, and may even be hot to the touch.

So what does this have to do with cancer? As we know, cancer cells find organs in which they can grow and flourish. Like the liver or lungs, a lymph node is just another organ where cancer can grow. The organ is like soil for a seed—only this organ is spread all over your body. Many cancers will communicate with the immune cells of the lymph nodes, allowing the cancer cells to take over.

As cancer cells take over the lymph node, the gland swells just like when you’re sick from a bacterial infection. But there’s one key difference: Cancer cells want to avoid the immune system, so they disguise themselves (see chapter 2). Even though cancer grows and fills up a lymph node, the immune system doesn’t recognize it’s there. There is no immune reaction. It’s like the cops don’t recognize the bad guys!

Cancer often presents with swollen glands, but the lymph nodes are often less painful than they’d be with an infection (sometimes they’re even painless!). Still, the similar symptoms can make it difficult to distinguish between cancer and an infection.