how would you explain a cancerous cell in simple terms

Question: how would you explain a cancerous cell in simple terms
- Keywords:
  cell
Asked by anon-328813 on 10 Jun 2022.
- Ryan Devlin answered on 10 Jun 2022: last edited 10 Jun 2022 6:50 am
  
  A cancerous cell is a cell with mutated DNA that can divide uncontrollably.
  
  Most cells in our body can divide and grow, so one can split into two, two can split into four, four into eight and so on. However, what prevents us from constantly growing into this huge mass of cells is our DNA and cell communicate. In very simple terms, we tell our DNA and cells when to divide, and when not to.
  
  However, sometimes our DNA can randomly mutate/change by mistake. Usually our body can recognise and fix this mutation, this mistake, but sometimes it doesn’t. Not all mutations lead to cancer, but some will lead to the DNA and the cell breaking out of its control. We try to tell the DNA and cells when to divide, but now they do not listen. Instead, they start to divide and grow uncontrollably. This cancerous cell can now divide, possibly mutate again, and can form a tumour.
- Rachel Harris answered on 10 Jun 2022:
  
  Like a normal cell, but with broken DNA that makes it grow fast and eat everything!
- Karin Purshouse answered on 10 Jun 2022:
  
  A cancer cell is a cell that grows in a place it’s not supposed to, in a way it’s not supposed to, and can sometimes be difficult to get rid of.
- Chelsea Gerada answered on 13 Jun 2022:
  
  It’s a cell that has been stressed out, the cell gets so stressed that it makes mistakes when it’s trying to copy its own DNA. These mistakes can help the cells to deal with stress, survive and proliferate more than regular cells.
- Maria Peiris Pages answered on 13 Jun 2022:
  
  A cancerous cell is a cell that used to be healthy and for some reason (usually external stimuli) it starts proliferating without control. That cell loses the control machinery that is able to recognise that a particular cell is proliferating when it shouldn’t, and eliminates it. When the proliferation is activated and the control machinery that can stop that from happening is broken, that cell will keep multiplying non-stop generating a tumour

Question: how would you explain a cancerous cell in simple terms

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