How does cancer cause death? - (Sep/22/2006 )

Hi all,

Cancerous cells can invade other important organs and causes malfunction and eventually death. but how do cancerous cells cause malfunction of other organs? Do they just consume nutrients and result in nutrient depletion of normal cells or..??

trying to get an idea of how uncontrolled cell proliferation can lead to death.

Thanks!

You can have a look at this: http://protein.bio.msu.ru/biokhimiya/conte...l/70091277.html it explains a bit this "theory".
In my view, cancer kills the organism because it gets blood, nutrients, the mass compresses other organs, etc. Moreover, the cancer cells have a growth advantage on the normal cells and they don't "work" as they should (like not producing or producing too many hormones, etc), therefore causing an imbalance of the normal homeostasis of the organism

I think of cancerous cells as encroachers.

Imagine a family living peacefully in their home. Now a guest forcefully enters the house and starts to grow and utilise all resources in the house. Initially, the hosts r able to manage with loss of resources but over a period of time things change. Ofcourse in the mean time the guests r also multiplying and eventually the hosts r deprived of everything. Now the primary host is being starved and unable to do anything or is nearly dead. Next the guest or cancerous cells enter another hosts house (metastasis) and does the same thing over again.

The cancerous cells utilise everything that the host tissue uses and actually becomes a parasite on the host tissue.

may b it helps. If not, I apologise.

sometimes tumors will physically interfere with organ function, too; not just a matter of taking resources. consider pancreatic and liver primary tumors. they often block necessary bile ducts, leading to all sorts of toxic effects in the patient. also lung cancer; how can those alveoli conduct thier business exchanging gases if they can't expand and contract properly?

as far as nutrient and blood depletion, that's an excellent point but you can take it even further. someone fighting cancer is mounting a constant, massive immune system battle. this takes more than the energy needed to run an organ, it is a huge drain on the entire body. think how tired you are after 4-5 days of a cold virus; translate that into weeks, months battling tumors. your immune system takes insane amounts of energy when it works at that level

to add to all that, cancerous cells cut blood supply to organs and form a net of blood vessels around the tumor to feed it (Angiogenesis), these vessels are a good source for nutrients and oxygen and waste disposal..