NCI Dictionary of Cancer Terms (2024)

FAQs

What is the NCI definition of cancer? ›

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) is the federal government's principal agency for cancer research and training. Established under the National Cancer Institute Act of 1937, NCI is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), one of 11 agencies that make up the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Malignant. We call a tumor that can spread to other parts of the body a malignant tumor. A malignant tumor is cancer.

At its most basic, cancer is a disease of the genes in the cells of our body. Genes control the way our cells work. But, changes to these genes can cause cells to malfunction, causing them to grow and divide when they should not—or preventing them from dying when they should. These abnormal cells can become cancer.

Cancer is a large group of diseases that can start in almost any organ or tissue of the body when abnormal cells grow uncontrollably, go beyond their usual boundaries to invade adjoining parts of the body and/or spread to other organs.

Three designations are recognized: Comprehensive Cancer Centers, Clinical Cancer Centers, and Basic Laboratory Cancer Centers.

The eight distinct hallmarks consist of sustaining proliferative signaling, evading growth suppressors, resisting cell death, enabling replicative immortality, inducing angiogenesis, activating invasion and metastasis, deregulating cellular energetics and metabolism, and avoiding immune destruction.

Celsus ( c. 25 BC – 50 AD) translated carcinos into cancer, the Latin word for crab or crayfish. In the 2nd century AD, the Greek physician Galen used oncos (Greek for 'swelling') to describe all tumours, reserving Hippocrates' term carcinos for malignant tumours.

When cancer returns after a period of remission, it's considered a recurrence. A cancer recurrence happens because, in spite of the best efforts to rid you of your cancer, some cells from your cancer remained. These cells can grow and may cause symptoms.

It's because of this location, surrounded and obscured by internal organs, that pancreatic tumors are impossible to see or feel during a routine medical exam. Making diagnosis even more difficult is the fact that in its early stages, pancreatic cancer is usually a so-called “silent” disease and causes no symptoms.

What are the 7 warning signs of a tumor? ›

Tyrosine kinase inhibitors. Tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) block chemical messengers (enzymes) called tyrosine kinases. Tyrosine kinases help to send growth signals in cells, so blocking them stops the cell growing and dividing. Cancer growth blockers can block one type of tyrosine kinase or more than one type.

Cancer develops when the normal processes that control cell behaviour fail and a rogue cell becomes the progenitor of a group of cells that share its abnormal behaviours or capabilities. This generally results from accumulation of genetic damage in cells over time.

As defined by the National Cancer Institute, cancer that occurs in fewer than 15 out of 100,000 people each year. Most types of cancer are considered rare, and they are often more difficult to prevent, diagnose, and treat than the more common cancers.

The PREVENT program is a peer-reviewed agent development program designed to support preclinical development of innovative interventions and biomarkers for cancer prevention and interception towards clinical trials.

Listen to pronunciation. (ad-VANST KAN-ser) A term that is often used to describe cancer that is unlikely to be cured.

Fatigue from chemotherapy (chemo fatigue).

Chemotherapy destroys healthy cells while treating cancer cells, causing you to feel fatigued. Some people feel the most tired after each chemotherapy treatment, whereas others may have worse fatigue halfway through their course of treatment.