How Does a Person Get Cancer?

Certain cancers are due to inherited genetic reasons, but most cancers are due to environmental factors and personal activities.  Indeed, a very small percentage of people may inherit certain genes that have higher tendencies to result in certain cancers.  Unfortunately, no one can choose his/her parents.  For these cancers, specific surgeries or therapies may be applied to the patients.  Furthermore, individualized medicine based on genetic characteristics is being developed and is gradually becoming a reality.

On the other hand, vast majority of people don’t have the inherited problematic genes; thus it is great news for most people.  However, just like nothing is guaranteed in real life, there is no guarantee that nothing will go wrong on life cycles of cells.  Let me elaborate a little more as follows.

In everyone’s lifetime, differentiated normal cells and stem cells in the body have to go through many cell cycles for cell growth and replication.  During the processes, there are many factors that can affect the microenvironment surrounding the cells, thus, the health of the cells.  If a person maintains a healthy microenvironment for the cells, it is very likely that the cells will grow and replicate in a normal manner and the chances for them to become cancerous are low.  However, if the cells are subject to an environment producing significant/sustained stress (chemicals, pH, temperature, etc.), there will be a higher probability for something to go wrong in the cell cycles, which may result in some cells to become abnormal or even cancerous.

Any substances that cause the stress and result in higher cancer risks are generally referred to as carcinogens.  Carcinogens can damage/modify certain genes and/or disrupt cellular metabolic/replication process and significantly increase the risk of cancer.  Because high-energy radiation could also cause cancer, it could be categorized as a carcinogen.

If someone is exposed to carcinogens frequently, there is a higher chance for the person to get cancer. On the other hand, if one can avoid carcinogens as much as possible, one can greatly reduce the risk of getting cancer.

In addition to carcinogens, there are a number of risk factors of cancer; many of them are controllable.  If one can pay attention to these factors, once can greatly reduce the chance of getting cancer.

© Jiajiu Shaw, 2015 

Disclaimer: This blog is written solely for informational purposes. It does not constitute the practice of any medical, nursing or other medical professional health care advice, diagnosis, or treatment. All contents posted are extracted from the book I am writing, "IS CANCER IN US", to be published in about two months.