More Basic Science

Recently, I have been looking at various fundamental mechanisms that are found to be deranged in several cancers. These regulate basic functions within the cell that mediate cell division, growth, death and motility, among others. I have written before on the disturbed cellular processes that are associated with cancer. You can read this article here. This will give you an overview of the mechanisms that may be disrupted in the malignant process.

So far I have written on excessive cellular proliferation, deficient apoptosis and abnormal cell adhesion. These are just some of the ways that normal cells are transformed into cancer cells. I will be exploring various other mechanisms involved in malignant transformation. If there are any aspects that you would like more information on, just let me know. I will try to get the relevant information on the site as soon as possible.

These basic processes are crucial to maintaining normal cell counts within the system. Cells grow and divide according to the needs of the body; therefore any disruption will lead either to too many or too few cells. Generally speaking, in the case of cancer there is excess cell division and not enough cell death, leading to too many cells. Cancer cells also tend to adhere inappropriately to other cells and this may explain why they are able to overcome certain constraints, facilitating their spread.

I will be following up with more mechanisms in the coming weeks and months. These will include defective differentiation, impaired DNA repair, immortalization of cancer cells and enhanced angiogenesis. You are more than welcomed to give me your input.

--