Basics of Carcinogenesis
Carcinogenesis is the malignant transformation of cells; the process by which normal cells are transformed into cancer cells.
It is caused by mutations at the cellular, genetic and epigenetic levels.
What happens in Carcinogenesis?
One of the main reasons why cancer is such a hard disease to treat is because different cancers have different characteristics. Lung cancer in Patient A and lung cancer in Patient will not act the same. Regardless, all cancers have some basic processes that are common in all of them and cause their malignant transformation. These processes are;
- Uncontrolled cell division
- Inhibition of apoptosis
- Angiogenesis: this is the formation of new blood vessels from already existing ones. The cancer cells need to get their nutrients and oxygen from the blood and they use angiogenesis to get an adequate