Cancer is a family of disorders that can happen almost anywhere in the body. When cancer occurs, the otherwise tight regulation of mitosis has gone astray. This causes abnormal cells to grow rapidly and uncontrollably.
Cancers that develop from the skin or the tissues lining internal organs are called carcinomas. Those in bones, muscles or other connective tissues are called sarcomas. Cancers can also develop from blood cells – these are leukaemias, and they circulate within the bloodstream. Solid tumours (carcinomas and sarcomas) can also spread to other parts of the body in a process known as metastasis (see Figure 1). This is what makes cancer particularly dangerous, because it allows the disease to affect multiple organs and systems.
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