Cancer Research on Natural Compound (Cancer Review)

I have started my final year project about cancer research today. My project title is “Natural Compound: Modulating the Expression of Both Anti- and Pro-apoptotic Proteins for Cancer Therapy”. Initially, i need to write a literature review on this cancer research project so that i can fully understand what i’m going to do. Today, i wish to post up my simple review on cancer.

Cancer Review

cancer research on natural compound
Cancer is a group of diseases that are characterized by uncontrolled cellular growth, enhanced angiogenesis and reduced programmed cell death (David and Lisa, 2008). Cancer can spread to other locations throughout the body, where they grow and upset normal bodily functions. We called this as metastatic spread where the cells are dispersed around the blood stream that formed leukemia or the lymphatic system that formed lymphoma. On the other hand, some of the cancer cells will clump together to form solid tumors (Arthur and Gary, 2009). The disruptive behaviours of cancer cells are because of the changes in their genomes and gene expression that result in disruption of normal regulatory signalling pathways (Atif and Peter, 2006).

Carcinogenesis

Carcinogenesis is the process of which normal cells are transformed into cancer cells (Atif and Peter, 2006). About 200 varieties of cancer disease have been described. The cancer diseases can be grouped in three main types: carcinomas, sarcomas, leukemias and lymphomas. Carcinomas are solid cancers arisen from the epithelial cells that covering our inner and outer surfaces. Sarcomas are solid cancers that developed from the connective tissue cells that form our body structures. Leukemias and lymphomas are cancers that caused by white blood cells (Arthur and Gary, 2009).

Tumorigenesis

Tumors are neoplasm which a population of genetically related cells has acquired the ability to proliferate abnormally. The malignant tumors have the ability to invade surrounding tissues composed of normal cells and make them lethal. Tumorigenesis is the process of the growth of a tumor from a single genetically altered cell (Fred, 2008).

Cancer Risk Factors

There are many risk factors of cancer which include both external factors and internal factors. Some of the examples of external factors are tobacco use, chemical use, radiation, and infectious organisms that will induce the developing of cancer cell. On the other hand, the internal factors such as inherited mutations, hormones, immune conditions, and mutations that involved the metabolism are the risk factors that causing the developing of cancer cell. These causal factors may act together or in sequence to initiate or promote carcinogenesis (American Cancer Society, 2008).

That’s all for my simple cancer review. I will continue to write more reviews later on. Stay tuned!:)
References:
1. David S. A. & Lisa M. H. (2008). Fundamental of Cancer Prevention (Second Edition). German: Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.
2. Arthur B. P. & Gary S. S. (2009). The Biology and Treatment of Cancer. Canada: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
3. Atif B. A. & Peter G. B. (2006). Nutrition and Cancer Prevention. Boca Raton: Taylor & Francis Group.
4. Fred B. (2008). Principle of Cancer Genetics. Maryland: Springer Science + Business Media B. V.
5. American Cancer Society. Cancer Facts and Figures 2008. American Cancer Society, Atlanta, GA, 2008.