• Question: do you know how many different types of cancer there are

    Asked by eleanor123 to Callum, Gina, Katie, Michelle, Sam on 14 Nov 2012.
    • Photo: Gina Tse

      Gina Tse answered on 14 Nov 2012:

      Cancer is a disease of the cell, and each cell we have could have the potential to become a cancerous cell. There are hundreds of different types of cells, believed to be over 200 so there are over 200 types of cancers.
      More cancers are more common than others and some cancers receive more media attention than others. Such as breast cancer and prostate cancer brought to our attention by things such as the pink ribbon and the very fun Movember! It is important to remember the rarer cancers are just as important and require just as much, if not more, research into them. As the rarer cancers tend to be the more devastating ones!

    • Photo: Sam Godfrey

      Sam Godfrey answered on 14 Nov 2012:

      Gina is absolutely right. And one reason it is so difficult to cure cancer is that each one can behave very differently. Talking of Movember, some of us scientists here are growing moustaches for prostate cancer research. We look ridiculous. A moustache is NOT my look.

    • Photo: Callum Johnston

      Callum Johnston answered on 14 Nov 2012:

      Gina gave a very good answer there. We still have so much more to learn about cancers it’s good there are so many people like her researching them. I always find it interesting that some cancers are more common in children than in old people and I think that would be a really interesting area to research.

    • Photo: Michelle Linterman

      Michelle Linterman answered on 15 Nov 2012:

      Hi Eleanor,

      Unfortunately any type of cell can become cancerous. So the number of types of cancer are the same as the number of types of cell.

      Michelle

    • Photo: Katie Howe

      Katie Howe answered on 16 Nov 2012:

      Hi eleanor,

      Apparently 1/3 of people will suffer with cancer at some point in their lives. There are so many kinds of cancer as the other guys said so that is why it is so common – although some types of cancer are much more common than others.

      It is really important that we learn as much as possible about what exactly is happening to our cells in cancer so we can try and find ways to beat it. Unfortunately it is such a complicated disease that it might take some time to find a cure.

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