• Question: Hi, I'am Jewel and I'am intrested to know how many types of cancer there is?

    Asked by JJ to Isabel on 12 Mar 2015.
    • Photo: Isabel Pires

      Isabel Pires answered on 12 Mar 2015:

      Hi Jewel!

      There are theoretically as many cancer types are there are tissue types in the body – all cells in a persons body have the potential to change and become a cancer, even in the heart, although it is very rare. Even if you think of a specific cancer type, say breast cancer, there are many many subtypes, depending on the genes that are present or absent on those cancers, or how the cells look like and behave.

      Luckily, the cells in a persons body have a lot of protection mechanisms that stop that a cancer from happening, such as repairing damage to the DNA to avoid mutations, or starting a cell death process if they have too much damage to be fixed and are in risk to become cancerous. Ou immune system can also eat up cancer cells, stopping them from growing, because they look different to them than normal cells. It is in the rare occasions these go wrong or are not working well that cancer can start.

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