Cancer Blog

Cancer Blog

During this cancer unit, I learned a number of things about cancer. One was how cancer forms. I never really knew that it was a genetic mutation that caused cancer. As it turns out, the cause of cancer starts with the genes inside and not so much with the factors outside. Another thing I learned was how cancer spreads. I knew cancer could spread, but I found out that the process is called metastasis and happens in a way I hadn't thought of. The cancerous cells get into the blood stream and travel to other parts of the body. Somewhere along this journey, the attach to the wall of a blood vessel and make their way out into the surrounding tissues. This is how cancer can spread so quickly. I also found out that not all tumors are cancerous. When you get a tumor, it can be either malignant or benign. After a tumor is examined by a doctor, it can be named cancerous (malignant) or safe (benign). Having a tumor does not necessarily mean having cancer. The P53 gene was also new to me. Cancer forms due to a mutation on one of the many genes. However, mutations on the P53 gene are more likely to cause cancer than some other mutations. Problems with this gene can lead to cells not following the proper check points in the cell cycle. Another new thing to me was carcinogens. I had heard the word before, but I didn't know what it meant or what things would be concidered carcinogens. Carcinogens are chemicals that are linked to causing cancer. A lot of commonly seen things can be carcinogens such as asbestos, smoke, even some brands of chewing gum. This was one of the most important things I learned: cancer can be caused by a lot of simple things; you really need to watch your lifestyle.

Though this project answered most of my questions about cancer, it still left me wondering about some things. I still don't know how exactly genes mutate to form cancer or which genes mutated for which specific cancers. Granted, some cancers are still being researched and this information hasn't been found yet. Still, it would have been nice to know how the mutations happen. It also wasn't explained how certain foods or substances help your body fight off cancer; what they contained and how they fought off the disease.

I liked a lot of things about this project. What really clicked for me was the connection to real life. You were given a "patient" with a normal life that you had to diagnose with cancer. Seeing the different types of people that were all susceptible to the disease was really interesting. You learned the material, but you had something familiar to connect it to.

During this project, I didn't like the fact that we also had to do a webquest along with the specific cancer patient. It took some time away from working on the presentation. However, I really don't have anything else bad to say about this project. I enjoyed learning more about cancer, since I've heard so much about it.