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Causes And Consequences Of Cancer Essay

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Cancer is a group of over 100 diseases involving uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells in the body with very high potential to spread to other body parts. Untreated cancers can cause serious illness and may lead to the death of the individual. In humans, over two hundred different forms of cancers have been identified, affecting more than sixty organs and claiming millions of lives worldwide.1 In the modern era, cancer is one of the major public health problems worldwide. Based on the GOBOCAN report, about 14.1 million new cancer cases and 8.2 million deaths occurred worldwide in 2012.2 It is one of the deadliest diseases and continues to be on the list of top five diseases with highest mortality rate. According to the American Cancer Society, in the United States 1,658,370 new cancer cases are expected to be diagnosed, out of which 589,430 patients are expected to lose their battle against cancer in 2015.3 Currently, cancer is the second most common cause of death in the US after heart diseases, causing the deaths of about 1,620 people per day and is expected to become number one within next few years.4 The significant increase in a number of cancer patients every year has propelled the interest of scientists to hunt for novel therapies to treat cancer. As a result, many new advances have been made over the last two decades towards the diagnosis and treatment of this deadly disease.5-11

1.2 Cancer and Immune System
Traditional treatment for cancer includes surgery,

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