MadSci Network: Cell Biology
Query:

Re: Does skin cancer infect your cells?

Date: Sun Jan 28 17:36:45 2001
Posted By: Kristin Henry, Grad student, Computer science, GalaxyGoo
Area of science: Cell Biology
ID: 977148557.Cb
Message:

Does skin cancer infect your cells?  In a word, yes.  But cancer is not 
an “infection” in the same way a cold virus is an “infection”.

Cancer is a disease of the cell. Individual cells have scheduled life 
cycles, unique to their cell type.  Damage or age can trigger the normal 
end of a cell’s life. But, when a cell doesn’t die on schedule, and begins 
growing in an uncontrolled manner, it can become cancerous.  It’s not 
completely known what will trigger previously healthy cells to become 
cancer cells, but overexposure to the ultraviolet radiation in sunlight is 
a known risk factor for skin cancer.

UV radiation can damage the DNA of a skin cell.  If the damage isn’t 
enough to kill the cell, the cell may become cancerous or precancerous.  
This would occur, for example, if the damage was done to the genes 
controlling the cells life cycle, leaving the cell’s growth and life span 
uncontrolled.

 http://www.cancer.
umn.edu/page/clinical/skin.html http://www.sciam.com/askexpert/chemistry/chemistry14/chemistry14.html



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