Chapter 20, Problem 19Q

Summary Introduction

To explain: Whether cancer is a hereditary disease.

Concept introduction:

Cancer is a state where the cells grow wildly and uninhibitedly. Every cell must perform its assigned function and undergo death at particular stage. Cancer cells arise when the normal cells refuse to undergo apoptosis (cell death) and multiply indefinitely by disrupting the task performed by other cells in the body. Cancer cells are formed in our body when the proto-oncogenes get activated and the tumor suppressor genes get inactivated. Cancer cells are not inherited to progenies as they occur in the somatic cells. Thus, cancer is not a hereditary disease.