What are cancer cells

Cancer cells are created when abnormal or damaged cells grow and multiply,
these cells can get together to make tumors, a solid mass of tissue which can
be cancerous and affect many parts of the body. A malignant tumor is the
kind that causes cancer but not all are malignant.

The properties of a cancer cell that make it different from a regular cell are:

● They grow without getting signals that tell them to which

normal cells need to grow and multiply instead of dying
when they are told to.
● They invade the body and spread to other parts which most
normal cells do not do (The spreading), they tell blood
vessels to grow to tumors which helps them get oxygen and
nutrients and get rid of waste.
● They hide from the immune system which would otherwise eliminate
them and trick the immune system into helping them
grow and stay alive, like some trick immune cells into
protecting them.
● They have small cytoplasm with either intense
colors or barely any, they also have coarse chromatin (the
proteins and DNA that make up chromosomes).
● Some have multiple nuclei or nucleoli. Their nucleoli are prominent
and their nuclei are rather bigger than normal cells. They have an
irregular shape without clear differentiation between the boundaries of
cells.
● Their mitochondria work in different ways and more efficiently thus
providing the energy for them to grow so much and so fast.

Facts
 ● Everyone has some cancer cells and
cancer is when you have a lot of them.
● They are like humans because they just
refuse to die, form a colony and band
together aka a tumor, they get supplies
from blood vessels, and multiply.
● More than half of all cancers are
preventable and some are curable but most of the time action is not
taken against it or the patient cannot afford to get treated.

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy also known as chemo is a medicinal treatment that stops

the growth of cancer cells. It works by killing cells that are dividing. Most
cancer cells divide very fast due to their sped up growth so they are more
likely to get killed by this. This can also kill some normal cells that divide
very fast. It is usually given intravenously also known as an IV, an IV is a
tube inserted into a blood vessel attached to a bag holding the medicine.

Citations

Opera AI
r.gov/about-cancer/understanding/wh
https://kidshealth.org/en/teens/cancer.html
https://kidshealth.org/en/teens/chemo.html