What is Cancer?

  • (noun): The fourth sign of the zodiac; the sun is in this sign from about June 21 to July 22.
    Synonyms: Cancer the Crab, Crab
    See also — Additional definitions below

Cancer

Cancer i/ˈkænsər/, known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a broad group of various diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the body through the lymphatic system or bloodstream. Not all tumors are cancerous. Benign tumors do not grow uncontrollably, do not invade neighboring tissues, and do not spread throughout the body. There are over 200 different known cancers that afflict humans.

Read more about Cancer.

Some articles on Cancer:

Fred Thompson - Personal Life - Cancer
... Thompson has non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), a form of cancer ... Thompson's cancer, though currently incurable, is reportedly indolent, the lowest of three grades of NHL ... The cancer is nodal marginal zone lymphoma, a rare form of NHL, that accounts for only one to three percent of all cases ...
Cancer - In Pregnancy
... Because cancer is largely a disease of older adults, it is not common in pregnant women ... Cancer affects approximately 1 in 1,000 pregnant women ... The most common cancers found during pregnancy are the same as the most common cancers found in non-pregnant women during childbearing ages breast cancer, cervical cancer ...
Index Of Oncology Articles - U
... study—see clinical trial - unconventional cancer treatments—see experimental cancer treatment - undifferentiated—see cellular differentiation - unilateral ...
Histone Methyltransferase - Disease Relevance
... methylation-regulating enzymes has been noted in some types of human cancers, suggesting associations between histone methylation and malignant transformation of cells or formation ... especially the methylation of the histone H3, in cancer development has been an area of emerging research ... is now generally accepted that in addition to genetic aberrations, cancer can be initiated by epigenetic changes in which gene expression is altered without genomic ...
Testicular Cancer
... Testicular cancer is cancer that develops in the testicles, a part of the male reproductive system ... between 7,500 and 8,000 diagnoses of testicular cancer are made each year ... Over his lifetime, a man's risk of testicular cancer is roughly 1 in 250 (0.4%) ...

More definitions of "Cancer":

  • (noun): Type genus of the family Cancridae.
    Synonyms: genus Cancer
  • (noun): (astrology) a person who is born while the sun is in Cancer.
    Synonyms: Crab
  • (noun): Any malignant growth or tumor caused by abnormal and uncontrolled cell division; it may spread to other parts of the body through the lymphatic system or the blood stream.
    Synonyms: malignant neoplastic disease
  • (noun): A small zodiacal constellation in the northern hemisphere; between Leo and Gemini.

Famous quotes containing the word cancer:

    I’m beginning to believe that Killer Illiteracy ought to rank near heart disease and cancer as one of the leading causes of death among Americans. What you don’t know can indeed hurt you, and so those who can neither read nor write lead miserable lives, like Richard Wright’s character, Bigger Thomas, born dead with no past or future.
    Ishmael Reed (b. 1938)

    The same people who tell us that smoking doesn’t cause cancer are now telling us that advertising cigarettes doesn’t cause smoking.
    Ellen Goodman (b. 1941)

    We “need” cancer because, by the very fact of its incurability, it makes all other diseases, however virulent, not cancer.
    Gilbert Adair, British author, critic. “Under the Sign of Cancer,” Myths and Memories (1986)