MadSci Network: Cell Biology
Query:

Re: how does skin cancer effect your cells?

Date: Tue Sep 30 22:58:18 2003
Posted By: John Moulder, Faculty, Radiation Biology, Medical College of Wisconsin
Area of science: Cell Biology
ID: 1064617645.Cb
Message:

Cause of Cancer

You ask:

"How does the "cancerous" part get into your skin cells? For example, how does it pass through the cell membrane -or does it eat the membrane and infect it? How does it infect it though? What effects it? How does it make one cell divide into many cells that spread it??"

Cancer is not a "thing" that gets into cells. It is not like an infection.

Cancer results from normal cells behaving in abnormal ways because their genetic control systems get messed up.

Which just gets to the next question. What causes the cells' genetic control systems get messed up in the first place?

We know of several ways:

John Moulder
Radiation Biologist
Medical College of Wisconsin


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