Asbestos and Cancer

The term neoplasia means according to their etymological roots “newly formed tissue.

“Neoplasm” is generally applied to malignant tumors (growths of cells with rebellious behavior), but can be used generically, which simply means “tumor”.

Diseases or injuries that are named with the suffix-oma indicate malignancy, such as adenomas, osteosarcoma, leiomyoma, lipoma, melanoma, etc..

There are, in summary, two types of cancer, which are benign or malignant and benign tumors or cancer (malignancy rebels).

Tumor

Initially, the term tumor was applied to swelling, bloating, “lump” or increase in size located in an organ or tissue. Even the concept still applies when it is said that the four cardinal signs of inflammation are “tumor, redness, pain and functional disability. With the lapse of time forgot the meaning of the word non-neoplastic tumor and today the term is equivalent to or synonymous with malignancy, and therefore are said to be benign and malignant tumors.

Cancer

The word derives from Latin cancer, and as the carcinoma derived from the Greek, means ‘crab’. It is said that traditional forms of advanced cancer adopt a variegated form, with ramifications that sticks to whatever grabs, with stubbornness and shape similar to that of a marine crab, and hence its name. Is sometimes considered synonymous with the terms ‘neoplasm’ and ‘tumor’, but always a cancer or malignant neoplasm.

Oncology

The word oncology comes from the Greek “onkos” tumor. That part of medicine that studies tumors or neoplasms, especially malignant (cancer).

Morphology of cancer

Tumor cells have an altered morphology that depends on the differentiation and anaplasia.

* The tumor cell differentiation is the degree to which the cancer cells resemble normal cells from which they come, both morphologically and functionally. Generally, benign tumors are well differentiated and cancers ranging from undifferentiated to well differentiated.
* Anaplasia is the lack of differentiation that leads to a lack of specialization or cell function and, generally, the more undifferentiated being a cancer, the higher its growth rate. In general, what distinguishes a malignant cancer of other benign, is the ability to have their cells to achieve a successful trasvasación (or metastasize), defined as the capacity of a tumor cell has to infiltrate the bloodstream (or lymphatic) , by breaking cell adhesion molecules that attach to the cells to the basement membrane, with eventual destruction of the latter. This property is acquired after successive changes in the genetic material of cells, where it is common to observe fragmented chromosomes, loss of tumor suppressor genes (such as p53 or BCl3) mutated self-inductive signal receivers (late stage of differentiation), is which causes the process of metastasis, ie the invasion and tissue destruction. Trasvasación This process has a low efficiency, which is about 1 in 10,000 cases. The low efficiency is mainly due to immune system activity.

Furthermore, it is noteworthy that the characteristic that makes fatal malignant cancers, when compared with benign (non-fatal), is the above mentioned tissue invasiveness in tumor cells where, generally when they lodge in the parenchyma of a body, destroy the architecture of it, being, in turn, their metabolic waste products are toxic to adjacent healthy cells, causing the elimination of this cell type. A very interesting ability of invasive cancer cells is the production of blood vessels (angiogenesis) to nourish, which are responsible for the dense vascular network that have tumors (tumors secrete hormones responsible for the formation of extensive networks of capillaries and vessels new blood).

This feature allows the tumor parenchyma have a large supply of oxygen and nutrients, which promote growth and proliferation at higher speed and distance. This capacity is generally absent in benign tumors, not typically generate these angiogenic factors and also in their cells do not possess the ability to transfer, so hopefully grow to a certain size compatible with the amount of nutrients that available.

In conclusion, according to recent research, in general, a single mutation in the genetic material of cells is responsible for transforming a healthy cell cancerous, by contrast, requires multiple mutations (which ultimately often degenerate into aberrations chromosome), which are generated either by successive replicative cycles by external factors or inducers of carcinogenesis (chemical, physical and / or biological) in which there is damage specifically in the sequence of exons of proto-oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes , which are responsible for regulating the cell cycle and programmed cell death (apoptosis), respectively [in a less academic language apoptosis is comparable to a suicide, in order to preserve the integrity of the tissue cell in the same preserving healthy cells alone ]. Any other trigger mutation in p53 gene transcription, p21 and p16 responsible, among others, of apoptosis. Thus, it becomes possible to establish a relationship between aging and cancer for the reasons mentioned, given that most cancer patients are elderly, although there are typically puerperiles cancerous diseases, juvenile or young adult. In early stages, where a low level of differentiation of these cells, it appears that the replication frequency is slightly higher than expected, but even in these conditions, cells continue to meet their own normal functions of the tissue. Then, in more advanced stages, it is possible to detect changes in cellular biochemistry, which are enzymes and proteins that are not specific to cell type, such as new channel proteins (usually are responsible for selectively evacuating high concentrations of chemotherapeutic agents, and hence generate resistance to them), presence of telomerase, continuous gradient (pathological) of intracellular second messengers involved in signal transduction, promoter sequences of DNA damage etc..