The civilians stand up: Cancer

You may have heard the dreaded C-word somewhere- Cancer is not that scary, but the death rate is high. We will now see how you get cancer- then talk about what happens when you get cancer.

Mutations are a thing that happens naturally- without outer disturbance. As we know, cells replicate to make newer generations. To get a better understanding of how mutations work, let’s pretend a picture of a cell on a paper is an actual cell. To make more of it, we put it in the copy machine. After a few times, the edge might get blurry. Cells must replicate thousands of times, though, so damage accumulates, and our cell on the last sheet of paper may not be recognizable from the first one. This is called mutations- but don’t worry, there is a gene called the TSG, the tumor suppressive gene that fixes these mutations. But even those can be broken, and the young cancer cell is born. Even after this, though, hope is not lost. (If it was, we would all be dead now- these cancer cells are made very often.) Don’t forget our immune systems; they aren’t just for killing invaders. Think about it this way: the cells are civilians. Aside from protecting the city, the immune system (the soldiers) also must protect the city from the inside. Cancer is like a rebellion, and it must be annialated for the greater whole.

So, the immune system kills cancer. Now you may ask, then why do we get cancer anyways? Aren’t they all destroyed? Well, mutations can also be helpful to the cancer cells. It can make them stronger, weaker, or not changed. The weaker cancer cells are destroyed by the immune system, but the stronger ones keep getting stronger ones. This way, the immune system is picking out the weak and making space for the strong to grow. Not a good idea, though.

Some key mutations that help the cancer survive are the ones that disable the immune system or let the cancer hide from it. Remember, civilians must listen to the army- it is a good idea too, but they don’t need to. The cancer can get a mutation that allows them to reach for that little switch- something made for cells to disable an immune cell if they get too crazy. But cancer doesn’t care; it toggles it. This way, the cancer cells are safe.

Now that we talk about how cancer forms, you may have a question. Why is cancer bad? Well, cancer replicates too fast and steals your energy- the energy that healthy cells need. Making cells requires energy, but cancer isn’t making any. So, if you have cancer, you might feel tired, depressed, and always hungry. When the cancer gets too strong, you have less energy, and slowly die.

But there is hope; there is something called a hyper tumor. It is a cancer for the cancer. Cancer are cells that stepped away from the community- your body- but hyper tumors are cancer on cancer- cells that decided to go back to the community. It is rare and might not be strong enough- but it is a hope. Being happy and hopeful can reduce stress and allow your immune system to defeat cancer.