CANCER AND ADVANCED TREATMENTS; IMMUNO ONCOLOGY.

Cancer Cells

Cancer cells scan CC0 creative cmmons via pixabay

WHAT IS CANCER?

Cancer is an unwanted and uncontrolled growth of a body cell. Cancer is the abnormal growth of body cells which evade tissues due to accommodation of defects of mutation in new ones DNA. Such defects could be infections, some environmental factors, some life activities (e.g. smoking, excess alcohol etc.)
The human body cells undergo a natural process of self-destruction when they are severely and cannot repair themselves or when it starts growing abnormally. Cancer occurs when there is a non-occurrence of this naturel process, instead the cells grow, divide and spread abnormally. These abnormal cells can be called cancer cells or timer cells, cancer cells composing the cancer tissues are identified by initial tissue from which they began their growth cancer occurs not only n human cells, animals and their living organisms are also vulnerable to abnormal cell growth and multiplication.
Cancer cells are very dangerous to the immune system and could migrate through the blood lymph tissues to other body organs evading tissues with their uncontrolled growth cycle.
Some common types of cancer

Male	Female	Children
prostate cancer	breast cancer	leukemia
lung cancer	lung cancer	brain tumors
colorectal	colorectal	lymphoma

for males

Common cancers in USA 2010 (male) by Mikael Häggström, [public domain] via wikimedia commons

for females

Common cancers in USA 2010 (female) by Mikael Häggström, [public domain] via wikimedia commons
some other common types of cancer are ; colon, basal cell cancer, melanoma, kidney cancer, pancreatic cancer, thyroid cancer, oral or oropharyngeal cancer, bladder cancer, e.t.c.

Cancer types and occurrences is dependent on some factors such as age, gender, environmental factors, genetics and diet.
World health Organization (WHO) gave the following information about cancer worldwide
• Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide. It accounted for 8.2 million deaths (around 22% of all deaths related to communicable disease, most recent data plan from WHO)

• Lung, stomach, liver, colon and breast cancer cause the most cancer death each year.

• Deaths from cancer worldwide are projected to continue rising, with an estimated 13.1 million deaths in 2030 (about 70% increase)

Some Causes of Cancer

Any activity that stimulates the abnormal growth of the body cells is a potential cancer cause. Cancer could develop from one or more known causes linked to either environmental or lifestyle causes. While some are inherited therefore they are cause by the genetic make up. While some cancer can be caused by the combination of more of these factors. It is almost impossible to determine the exact cause of cancer growth in a person but some clinical advancement have been able to narrow some cause that alone or combined with others can be initial causes of abnormal cell growth. Some major causes include;

• High exposure to some chemical or toxic compounds such as; nickel, benzene, tobacco & cigarette smoke, cadmium etc.

• Pathogens and viruses such as; Epstein-barr virus, hepatitis viruses and some other bacteria still under research, they cause cancer through long term accumulated untreated infections.

• Radiations from radioactive materials, radiations such as; X-rays, alpha, beta and gamma rays etc.

• Genetics: some cell abnormalities are passed down from parents to offspring through inherited genes such as breast, prostate and skin cancer. Read more about genetic transferred cancers in the National Cancer Institute article on Genetics and Cancer

Many humans are prone to cancer development due to exposure to some cancer causing substances (secondary smoke and X-rays). He higher the exposure to this substances the higher the probability of developing cancer, some humans also have strong immune systems that are able to counter and destroy the growth of cancer cells. Due to these reasons it is difficult to generalize causes of cancer. They vary in different individuals, so it is advisable to avoid any activity or large intake of substances that have a potential of causing cancer.

Signs of Cancer

The signs and symptoms differs according to the type of cancer, it’s location and areas it has migrated to. For example, breast cancer appears as lump in the breast. Some patients do not show some signs or symptoms for long periods of time (months to years) until the cancer has advanced.
Some major signs include;

• Indigestion (usually chronic) or difficulty swallowing

• Sore throat that does not heal

• Noticeable loss of weight and appetite

• Unusual bleeding or discharge (e.g. nipple secretions that oozes material)

• Persistent fatigue, nausea and vomiting.

• Recurring infections which will not clear with usual treatments.

• Unexplained low grade fevers that may come and go.

• Nagging cough or hoarsness

• Thickening of lump in the breast, testicles or elsewhere.

There are many other signs of cancer but these are the most common occurring signs. If you by any means notice these signs, you should immediately consult your doctor for some checkups and diagnosis.

Cancer Diagnosis and Treatments

Cancer is diagnosed using different methods. Analyzing the history of the symptoms is the first step in determining what type of cancer it might be. Some medical test will be carried out based on the suspected affected area, some blood test will also help with additional information. X-rays, CT and MRI scans could be carried out to detect areas of abnormal growth on the body then in some parts of the body (such as inside bones or lymph nodes). A higher penetration scan such as radionuclide scanning is often used to enable better visualization. This test involves ingestion or IV injection of a weakly radioactive material that can concentrate and be detected in areas of abnormal tissue growth. All these method only give secondary information in the diagnosis of the cancer. A biopsy (examination of a sample of the abnormal tissue) gives a more precise diagnosis of the specific cancer. This is done by a pathologist (a physician who studies body cells and tissues) a biopsy will help what stage of cancer, either primary or metastatic (a migrated all abnormality growth). Metastatic cancer is an advanced stage of cancer.

The NCI (National Cancer Institute) has some laid down common elements used in most cancer staging systems

• Area of initial tumor growth

• Tumor size and number

• Whether the tumor has spread into lymph nodes

• Cell type and tumor grace

• Occurrence of metastasis or not (spreading of the abnormal cells to other tissues).

More precise ways of cancer staging includes the TMN staging mainly for solid tumors and the roman numerical staging used by most clinical for almost all types of cancer.
Cancer treatments
Most cancer treatments have a certain level of uniqueness according to the immune system composition. Diagnosis and treatment can go alongside the whole abnormal tissue is removed surgically during biopsy. Cancer treatment over the years have advanced from mere surgical chemotherapy or radiation therapy to what is known as Oncology Immunotherapy

IMMUNO ONCOLOGY

This is a unique way of fighting cancer cells with the use of the body immune system. It can either be active or passive. cancer cells contain some macro molecules( proteins and carbohydrates) on their surface that are detectable by the body immune system.

• active immuno oncology enhances the immune system to attack such macro molecules and destroy them

• Passive immuno oncology enhances the existing active immuno oncology with the use of monoclonial antibodies, cytokines and lymphocytes.

The immune system produces antibodies that combat the programmed antigen detected on any cell surface. So anti bodies created with oncology immuno therapy detect those specific antigens found on the surface of specific cancer cells and attach themselves to the antigens stimulating the production of antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity or prevent a receptor from interacting with its ligand which will eventually lead to the death of the tumor cells.

Immuno Oncology differs from radiation therapy and chemotherapy in the sense that it is also an engineered procees whereby blood cells are collected from the tumor areas and are genetically engineered to possess a specific receptor for the specific cancer cells being combated, they are then cultured and returned back into the patients body to kill and destroy the adnormal cells. when an antibody kills an antigen it dies along with it. the cytokines and lymphpcytes enhance the active anti tumor cells combat.

CONCLUSION

This advancement has been a break through in the medical industry and will surely help to reduce the volume of cancer victims yearly as more advancements are being worked on. Cancer is a deadly so be sure to call on your doctor whenever you get any signs or symptoms of cancer. Do not presume it's something little, your health state is very vital and should not be taken for granted. Also try and avoid large intake or contact with substances suspected to cause cancer, balanced diet has also been argued to reduce the probability of having cancer. There will be an update on the types of cancer that can be treated using this immuno oncology. Although it has a high cost disadvantage, it is the most effective available cancer treatment. there are also some cancer situations like some primary skin cancer which do not necessarily need immuno oncology for effective treatments, because the entire abnormal cell growth could be cut off during diagnosis for biopsy, thereby diagnosing and treating at the same time.

REFERENCES

CANCER; SIGNS CAUSES AND SYMPTOMS \ medicinenet.com

Cancer Immunotherapy \ wikipedia.org

Difference between immuno oncology and other cancer treatments \ immunooncology.bmsinformartion.com

If you write STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) related posts, consider joining #steemSTEM on steemit chat or discord here. If you are from Nigeria, you may want to include the #stemng tag in your post. You can visit this blog by @stemng for more details. You can also check this blog post by @steemstem here and these guidelines here for help on how to be a member of @steemstem.