Chapter 1 General Introduction
CHAPTER 1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 1 1.1. INTRODUCTION 1.1.1. Cancer According to World Health Organization (WHO), ‘cancer’ is defined as a generic term for a group of more than 100 diseases that can affect any part of the body. The other synonyms that are used include malignant tumors and neoplasms. Cancer is a class of diseases in which a group of cells display uncontrolled growth, invasion that intrudes upon and destroys adjacent tissues, and sometimes metastasis, or spreading to other locations in the body via lymph or blood. Also known as a multifactor, multifaceted and multi-mechanistic disease enquiring a multidimensional approach for its treatment, control and prevention (Murthy et al., 1990). It is now widely recognized that cancer results from a series of genetic alterations causing a loss of normal growth controls, resulting in unregulated growth, lack of differentiation, apoptosis, genomic instability, and metastasis. Cancer knows no boundaries and can develop in any tissue of any organ at any age. However, one of the hallmarks of tumor development is a long latent period with no obvious clinical evidence of disease (Baudino, 2004). The causes of cancer have been divided to two major categories: those with an environmental cause and those with a hereditary genetic cause. Cancer is primarily an environmental disease, though genetics influence the risk of some cancers. Generally, 90-95% of cases attributed to environmental factors and 5-10% due to genetics. Environmental, as used by cancer researchers, means any cause that is not genetic. Common environmental factors that contribute to cancer death include: tobacco (25- 30%), diet and obesity (30-35%), infections (15-20%), radiation (both ionizing and non ionizing, up to 10%), stress, lack of physical activity, and environmental pollutants 1 CHAPTER 1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION (Anand et al., 2008).
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