O QUE É CÂNCER?

What is cancer? If we take the human body as an example, it is composed of various organs, such as the lungs. Going deeper, these organs are composed of various structures, such as the pulmonary alveoli used in respiration. If we continue to zoom in further into this structure, we can find different tissues, which are themselves made up of different cells. If we take a cell and look at what is happening inside it, we can observe that it is composed of different organelles, such as a nucleus. If we go inside the nucleus, we will discover a structure that everyone knows: chromosomes - loaded with genetic information - that is, what defines us all. So let's go back to the main problem, which is cancer. All organs must function well to provide life to the human being. You should know that there are many factors capable of damaging them, such as toxic elements contained in cigarette smoke. And these elements cause a lot of damage to tissues and particularly to our cells at the DNA level. Certain cells, when severely damaged, begin to proliferate in a completely disordered manner, giving rise to a mass, which we call a tumor. And since all cells need to be nourished, this mass will divert blood traffic in order to feed itself. The tumor will continue to grow, becoming increasingly larger. We can observe in the upper left corner, cells observed in the laboratory proliferating. It is possible to see that it is a fairly rapid proliferation. Once the primary tumor is well developed and connected to the bloodstream, it will be able to initiate a colonization process, in particular by releasing several exosomes into the bloodstream. Exosomes are cancerous microparticles that allow the preparation and conditioning of new places to colonize. Then, the primary tumor will be able to target an area that will be invaded in the future. Subsequently, some cells from the primary tumor migrate to invade other areas. Once prepared, these cancerous cells will enter the bloodstream and need to camouflage themselves and protect themselves against different immune system cells that will try to recognize and destroy them. The cell will continue its journey and when it reaches its destination, it will leave the bloodstream. Upon attaching itself, it will generate a new tumor mass. This tumor mass will be called a metastasis. It will also divert its blood circulation to be able to survive. The process will repeat itself, generating new metastases, giving rise to cancerous cells that are difficult to reach. However, in recent years there has been news of increasingly powerful techniques that have been developed to fight cancerous cells. This is the case, for example, of optogenetics, which consists of modifying some of our cells to be able to deactivate cells, thanks to light. This will allow, in the more or less near future, its exclusive use against cancerous cells. Another technique is to take immune system cells from a patient in order to genetically modify them, forming them into super-cells capable of recognizing cancerous cells more efficiently. Thanks to these techniques, many patients may soon be fully cured.