Cancer Biology by Pearson

5

Hallmarks of Cancer

5.1 Introduction

Cancer is not merely a lump of cells that divide uncontrollably, metastasise and spread randomly, it is a dynamic metabolic process that requires the contribution of the whole organism. In early 2000s, Professor Hanahan and Weinberg stated that ‘when cells progress towards a neoplastic state, they acquire distinct capabilities’. These were termed as the ‘hallmarks of cancer’ which provides a fundamental basis for understanding the complexity of the disease towards a better treatment. The biological behaviour of cancer is understood and diagnosed with respect to ten specific hallmarks which includes two key facilitators—mutational instability of the cancer genome and cancer related inflammation.

These ten ...