Radiology and Oncology

Cancer Cell Biology and Cancer Biomarkers

Cancers are a large family of diseases that involve abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. Cancer cells are those cells whose cell division and growth is unregulated. When the natural killer cells fail to recognize them, they start malignant. When cancer cells start spread from one part to another it is called metastasis. Tumor cell starts its growth in tumor microenvironment which included blood cell, immune cells, fibroblasts, lymphocytes etc. Symptoms of different cancers are depending upon the location of tumor. Cancer stem cells are stem cells which have the ability to give rise all type of cancer cells.

Cancer biomarkers are used to detect the natural course of a tumour and are used to assess chances of developing cancer. Biomarkers in cancer screening play an important role in cancer detection and risk assessment to reduce cancer deaths. Tumour biomarkers are used to detect cancer development and progression. Uterine cervical cancer, endometrial cancer, trophoblastic neoplasms and ovarian cancer are gynaecologic malignancies for which tumour markers are in clinical use. Effective cancer biomarkers are used to reduce cancer mortality rates by facilitating diagnosis of cancers at early stages. Cancer biomarkers can also be used in diagnosis, risk assessment and recurrence of cancer.