The Complicated Biology of Breast Cancer

Cancer is a term used for diseases in which irregular cells divide without any control and have the capability to penetrate and infect normal body tissue through the blood and lymph system. Cancer is the second leading cause of mortality in the United States, exceeded barely by heart disease. According to the CDC Cancer Statistics and Data, there were more than 1.45 million people diagnosed with various kind of cancer between 1999 and 2007 and out of those more than 562,000 people died due to cancer (cdc.gov, 2012). Currently there are more than 200 different types of cancer that have been discovered. Cancer could be

“Cancer is a term used for diseases in which abnormal cells divide without control and are able to invade other tissues. Cancer cells can spread to other parts of the body through the blood and lymph systems (NCI, 2013).” Cancer is of many diseases. It originates from the organ in the body and/or from the part of the body that is affected, for example breast cancer. Breast cancer is mainly common among women, except for skin cancers. “Breast cancer occurs when cells in the breast divide and grow without their normal control (Komen, 2014).” The

Breast Cancer is made up of glands also known as lubes. In a women breast the small tubes (lobules) carry milk to the nipples (ducts) . Breast cancer begins in the cells that are in the in the ducts. It can also start in other cells of the breast tissues. There is a pathway in the breast called lymph. Lymph causes the cancer to spread throughout the breast. The vessels that carry clear fluid instead of blood connect lymph.

For the majority of time, the biomedical model has been the main focus on many health factors and diseases, including cancer. Recently, psychologists have been able to prove the psychological and social components of disease. This has forced Doctors, who once relied solely on the biological factors of disease to take a more holistic approach. To help demonstrate the biopsychosocial model of cancer, I will be focusing on breast cancer and it’s risk factors. I will be discussing the effects of race/ethnicity, stress, and genetic factors on the occurrence and recovery of people who suffer from breast cancer.

     Breast cancer, a very painful disease emotionally and physically for women, can also be detected with genetic testing. The majority of cases of breast cancer are not the result of known inherited mutations, but rather from two breast cancer susceptibility genes: BRCA1 and BRCA2. Although the two genes are similar, BRCA1 mutations lead to estrogen receptor negative

Purpose Statement: This speech has a primary goal of educating the audience and to give a better understanding of what breast cancer is and how it can be treated with detection by a vast variety of methods. It will also give better understanding that not only women but men also are susceptible to breast cancer.

Cancer is a disease that has been an ongoing controversy on what can help to prevent getting it. Cancer is when cells are dividing at an uncontrollable rate. Cancer is developed when cancer cells go into lymph nodes and also when they take over the blood vessels, lymph nodes are when there is swelling the the lymphatic system. With the cancer there is swelling which is called a tumor. Tumor is when there is swelling in the part of the body that is not caused by inflammation, but is caused by a large group of abnormal tissue cells. There are two different types of tumors. There is the malignant tumor which is a tumor that can be cancerous which is when the cells divide at a faster rate, and can also take over tissues. The other tumor is a benign tumor, which is a noncancerous and could be removed, and it cannot take over any near tissues. Genes play a big role in cancer itself. Cancer happens when a gene is mutated and changed, and when the gene becomes mutated it becomes abnormal. Because it is not a normal cell, its a mutated cell which makes it more cancerous. One gene that is a cancerous cell is a proto-oncogene which is a normal gene, but if it is mutated or changed it becomes a oncogene which is then now a cancerous cell and then divides into multiple different cancerous cells that can affect one 's body. The proto-oncogene can escalate if mutated into a cancerous cell. Which

It can mutate in many ways, but truncating mutation types are associated with the greatest incidence of breast cancer because since DNA repair functions are not functioning properly, other mutations of fast-replicating cells go unchecked and allow for aggressive tumor growth. BRCA2 is the next type of tumor suppressor gene, located on chromosome 12q12 and is also involved with DNA repair, and also result from truncated proteins. BRCA2 mutations account for 35-40% of all BRCA gene mutations, and 28-32% of all hereditary breast cancers. So, what do breast cancers actually do? For starters, we have cytokines that mediate intracellular communication locally to cause an integrated response to stimuli. These can be synthesized be healthy or diseased cells, and their job is to regulate survival, growth, differentiation and effector functions of the cell. In breast cancer, many cytokines have a role in expression of cancer cells and are usually produced at the site of the tumor. The certain suppressive cytokines may inhibit the immune response against tumor cells and will inhibit the functions of lymphocytes that are associated with tumor suppression and may in turn actually promote tumor growth. There is a category of cytokines that are

Cancer is the abnormal growth of cells, or as cell malignancy. There are various forms of cancer, and mostly,

Cancer involves abnormal cell growth meaning cells that should have died continue to mutate and divide. When they continue to do this they form a tumor or mass of cells in most

Cancer is a disease in which abnormal cells divide uncontrollably and invade other tissues; the disease can spread to other parts of the body through the circulatory and lymph systems. There are more than 100 different types of known cancer, which can be grouped into broader categories such as:

Breast cancer is an uncontrolled growth of the breast cells as a result of mutations or abnormal changes in the genes that are responsible for regulating the growth of cells and keeping them healthy. In normal healthy cells our body replaces the old dead cells with healthy new ones through a process of cell growth. When mutations occur certain genes can be turned off or turned on resulting in cells that have the ability to infinitely divide without any rhyme or reason. This produces more cells that are abnormal and eventually leads to the formation of a tumor. Tumors can end up being benign or malignant. Benign tumors are not cancerous, their cells are slightly abnormal and they grow slowly and do not spread to nearby tissues or other parts

“Women with certain risk factors are more likely than others to develop breast cancer” (National Breast Cancer [NBC], n.d ). Exposure to radiation and drinking alcohol are risks that can be avoided, whereas breast cancer that is caused by inherited genetic factor can not be avoided. “ Many risks factors contribute to women being diagnosed with breast cancer. Most breast cancer are acquire during the lifetime while only about 5% to 10% are inherited” (breastcancer.org). The risk of developing breast cancer for women around 70 years old is roughly 4 percent. “In the 1970s, the chance of being diagnosed with breast cancer in the United States was just under 10 percent or about 1 in 10” (National Breast Cancer [NBC], n.d ). Even though, many studies and clinical trials are completed during these years; they still are not sure what causes breast cancer. Many believe that inheritance plays a significant role; however, there are still questions about this issue. BRCA1 AND BRCA2 are two genes that produce proteins in the body that help control tumor cell growth (cancer.gov). When these genes change, they do not produce proteins to repair the altered DNA; therefore, they cause breast cancer. If these two genes are inherited from a parent, it causes the child to have a higher risk of developing breast cancer. Also, exposure to radiation and over consuming of alcohol can cause someone to develop breast cancer

Breast cancer is cancer cells that develop in the breast of a woman. The most common type of breast cancer is ductal carcinoma in situ. The cancer cells develop in the milk ducts of the breast. Doctors and researchers do not exactly know the cause of cancer. All they know is that it usually occurs when a cell’s DNA is damaged. When cells in the breast start to develop abnormally they begin to develop quicker than the normal cells. They also keep multiplying, causing them to metastasize throughout the breast to the persons lymph nodes and sometimes other parts of the body. Sometimes breast cancer occurs in the lobules, but most of the time it starts in the invasive ductal carcinoma. Breast

According to the Cancer Facts and Figures 2014 by the American Cancer Society, an estimated number of 232,670 women in the United States will be diagnosed with breast cancer, and about 2,360 new cases are expected in men. Breast cancer will possibly cause death to more than 40,000 female patients and 400 male patients in 2014. Excluding skin cancer, breast cancer is the most common cancer that American women are diagnosed with. Additionally, breast cancer ranks second in the most deadly cancers among women today, just after lung cancer.