Cancer develops when cells in a part of the body begin to grow out of control. Cancer cells typically display errors in the processes that regulate normal cell proliferation, differentiation, and survival. Taken together, these characteristic properties of cancer cells provide a description of uncontrolled growth at the cellular level.

In normal tissues, the rates of new cell growth and old cell death are kept in balance. Rather than responding appropriately to the signals that control normal cell behavior, cancer cells grow and divide in an uncontrolled manner, invading normal tissues and organs and eventually spreading throughout the body   . . .

• In simple terms, cancer is a group of more than 100 distinct diseases characterized by the uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells in the body.

• Cancer begins when a cell breaks free from the normal restraints on cell division and begins to follow its own agenda for proliferation.

The Cancer Process

courtesy: www.cancerprevent.org