ADawn San

Bio 1610
Research Paper
March 30, 2016
Cancer
One of the most common disease that we have today is cancer. The disease we call
cancer is actually many different diseases, depending on the tissue affected. Many scientists are
currently working on finding the cure for cancer, but the development is very slow. Cancer is
defined as the unrestrained growth and division of cells (Raven, Johnson, Mason, Losos, &
Singer, 2013, Pg. 202). One of the major reason that causes cancer is a failure the cell division.
Another way that causes cancer is proto-oncogenes/oncogene.
A normal cell performed mitosis when its been told to either repaired damages or simply
to create new cells, and the unnecessary cells died when they are not needed. In the cell cycle
there is a checkpoint in which everything is check before moving on to the next stage of cell
division. One of the checkpoint, at the end of G1, has P53 which is the gene that produces the
p53 protein that monitors DNA integrity and halts cell division if DNA damage is detected.
When p53 is stop working it is called abnormal p53. There are three step in which cancer cells
occur. First step, the damage DNA was not repaired and the cell division was not halt by the p53
protein. Second step, cells starts to divide without repair to damaged DNA. Finally in the last
step, damaged cells continue to divide which accumulates and turn the cells to cancerous.
Cancer appears to occur when the growth of cells in the body is out of control and cells divide
too quickly (Gary, 2016).

Proto-oncogenes are genes that normally help cells grow. When a proto-oncogene
mutates (changes) or there are too many copies of it, it becomes a bad gene that can become
permanently turned on or activated when it is not supposed to be. The actions of protooncogenes is related to signaling by growth factors, and their mutation can lead to loss of growth
control in multiple ways. When proto-oncogenes is mutated the on button that tell the cell
when to divide has no longer dependent on the presence of the growth factor for cell division
(Raven, Johnson, Mason, Losos, & Singer, 2013, Pg. 204). The cell will continue to divide with
or without the signal. For example, think of a cell as a car. For it to work correctly, there need to
be ways to control how fast it goes. A proto-oncogene functions in a way that is much like a gas
pedal. It helps the cell grow and divide. An oncogene could be compared with a gas pedal that
is stuck down, which causes the cell to divide out of control.
Even though the term cancer is a disease with many different kinds, but the problem that
started cancer is very similar in every single cancer in the world. P53 failure to stop can be
found in almost every types of cancer. It is the primary source in which starts the production of
cancer cell.

CITATIONS:
GRADY, D. (2016, March 30). Cancer - symptoms, diagnosis, treatment of cancer - NY times
health information. . Retrieved from
http://www.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/cancer/overview.htmlIn-line

Mason, K. A., Losos, J. B., Singer, S. R., Raven, P. H., & Johnson, G. B. (2013). Biology (10th
ed.). United States: McGraw-Hill Science.

Mandel, A. (2013, March 21). What causes cancer? Retrieved from http://www.newsmedical.net/health/What-Causes-Cancer.aspx