What is the difference between cancer cells and normal cells?
We all know that cells are the basic structure and functional units of the organism, cells have cell membranes, cytoplasm, nuclei, etc., and the proliferation of cells is divided in two ways, and cells will die after a certain number of divisions.
Cancer cells are also a kind of cells, but not normal cells, one of the characteristics of cancer cells is that they can continue to divide, that is, division is out of control, this cell can also invade the surrounding normal tissues, etc., these characteristics are not normal cells. The characteristics of cancer cells' immortality, migration and where they grow are not possessed by normal cells.
Different characteristics of cancer cells and normal cells:
1, cancer cells can proliferate indefinitely, cancer cells under suitable conditions, can divide and proliferate indefinitely, unlike normal cells that will die after dividing to a certain number of times.
2. The morphology of cancer cells is different from normal cells: the nucleus of cancer cells is large, 1-5 times larger than the nucleus of normal cells, and the nucleus of each cancer cell varies in size, cell malformations, and abnormal nuclear plasma ratio.
Cancer cells are normal cells
In fact, cancer cells do not appear out of thin air, it is also changed from normal cells, this process is called cancerous. A very important cause of cancer is mutations in the cell genome, followed by abnormalities in cell growth and division, and the transmission of defective genetic material until the appearance of cancerous tissue.
Cancer cells may also be caused by activation of oncogenes and cell transformation. In general, oncogenes are commonly present on the chromosomes of human and animal cells. The oncogene is in an inhibited state, and once the normal regulatory process of the cell is hindered, it may transform the oncogene into an activated state, and the cell will transform into a cancer cell.
Cancerous changes often require a long-term process, usually under the continuous stimulation of carcinogens for several years, the cells of tissues and organs may continue to proliferate to form severe atypical hyperplasia, and eventually evolve into cancer. It generally takes more than ten to several decades.
General cancerous changes must go through the stage from normal cells to cell proliferation, then to the atypical proliferation stage of cells, and then to the metaplasia of cells, and then to carcinoma in situ. In this period of carcinoma in situ, it can be called cancer, and the previous stage can be called precancerous lesions. Cancer in situ cancer can be cured by early detection, early diagnosis, and early treatment.
If carcinoma in situ does not do any treatment, cancer continues to develop, it will enter the middle and advanced cancer, cancer cell invasion breaks through the carcinoma in situ stage, and then the cancer cells metastasize, the cancer at this stage through effective treatment, some patients can recover, most patients can prolong life, improve the quality of life.
Why is early cancer not easy to detect?
We often hear who is terminal as soon as cancer is discovered, but cancer has the highest cure rate in early stage, so why can't cancer be detected early? In fact, some people are found early, but many people are found to be in the middle and advanced stages, which is related to the characteristics of early cancer itself.
1. Early cancer is small in size: when the tumor diameter is less than 1 cm, the volume is small, and the routine physical examination and imaging examination are not easy to be found. Swelling is easy to detect only when the tumor grows to a certain size and density. However, with the advancement of technology in the past two years, the detection rate of early cancer has increased significantly. Not as good as the incidence of lung cancer, early X-ray chest x-ray is difficult to find nodules below 1 cm, in recent years due to the popularity of thin-layer CT, the detection rate of early lung cancer has greatly increased. However, sometimes the lesions are too small to distinguish from benign lesions such as inflammation, so doctors often recommend follow-up observation.
2. Hidden cancer site: For tumors with more hidden growth sites, it is difficult to find them early through routine physical examination, such as pancreatic cancer, ovarian cancer, mediastinal tumors, etc., and because the cancer is small, there are generally no specific compression symptoms, it is difficult to cause discomfort to patients, and it is difficult for patients to take the initiative to do physical examinations.
3. Cancer has metastasized at a very young age: cancer cells can infiltrate and metastasize, metastasize through blood, and metastasize through lymph. Sometimes small tumors are found to be not really early-stage cancers, because some cancers with a high degree of malignancy, the primary lesion is very small, it may have hematogenous dissemination or lymphatic dissemination, and even has a wide range of metastasis throughout the body.
4, the detection methods need to be improved: there is no examination method at present, like some propaganda, taking a drop of blood can know whether the body has cancer. There are different methods for different cancers, and these methods have some limitations to some extent. For example, some advanced tests may improve tumor detection rates, but they are expensive and may have a potential negative impact on the body. PET-CT scans, for example, have a higher chance of detecting cancer, but the method is not only expensive, but the potential effects of radiation are unclear.
Therefore, at present, if we want to detect early cancer, we must do targeted examinations according to the high incidence factors of different cancers, such as lung CT scans for lung cancer, tumor markers for liver cancer alpha-fetoprotein and liver ultrasound, and gastroscopy for gastric cancer. There are also corresponding examinations for different groups of people, such as someone in the first-degree relatives who has bowel cancer, then it is necessary to have a targeted examination of the intestine.