The Pathophysiology of Cancer

When you are healthy, your body has over a trillion cells that divide at standard rate
and pace. When you develop cancer your normal cells turn into cancer cells.
Cancer cells have different DNA that healthy cells.

One of the first steps in a healthy cell becoming a cancer cell is the change of the
proto-oncogens to oncogenes. Proto-oncogenes are genes that are coded to
maintain normal cell growth. An oncogenes is a gene that has changed to make the
cells grow and divide faster. In cancer cells the cell grows and divides very quickly.

The second step to becoming a cancer cell is the tumor suppressor genes get
turned off. Tumor suppressor genes are a part of a healthy cells DNA that help stop
cancer from forming in healthy cells. Tumor suppressor genes help slow down cell
growth, when these genes are turned off the cell with grow and divide very quickly.

The last step to becoming a Cancer cell is the DNA repair genes gets turned off.
DNA repair genes help your healthy cells know if something is wrong with its DNA
and how to fix it. When these genes get turned off the cell doesn’t know if it is sick,
and it can’t fix any problems with its DNA.