How do cancers spread?

[scilearner]

Hello everyone,

 

First of all I don't know much about cancer. I'm assuming cancer is some mutation in dna and causes the cells to uncontrollably replicate. So let's say a person has lymphoma. Now this cancer spread into lungs? Then what happens? Do lung cells start to replicate there or lymphoid cells start to replicate there?If lung cells start to replicate, how does a lymphomatic cancerous cell spread the mutation to a lung cell? I mean it is not like a virus that can inject DNA right? Also how do cancers spread through lymphatic system? Lymphatic system can not carry cells right, only interstitial fluid so how does cancer spread through them? Thanks

[Mr Skeptic]

The cancer cells themselves spread to other parts of the body (metastasize) and then grow there.

 

For a moment I thought you were talking about the infectious cancer in Tasmanian devils.

[scilearner]

The cancer cells themselves spread to other parts of the body (metastasize) and then grow there.

 

For a moment I thought you were talking about the infectious cancer in Tasmanian devils.

 

Thanks skeptic So if there is a cancer of stomach cells, if they spread to lung, do stomach cells replicate there or lung cells replicate there. How do cancer cells flow through lymphatic system. Aren't they too big?

[dttom]

When talking about cancer cell, it is presumably that they are different from other normally functioning equivalent, so a cancer cell derived from stomach does not perform stomach functions, so it becomes less important to argue if it is a stomach cell or pulmonary cell if it spreads to the lungs.

Cancer cells could spread by individual cell shift, if there is only one cell shifting, lymph vessels are just too wide for it.

[nec209]

I think the quetion is if you have stomach cancer how does it spread to the liver and when you get liver cancer is it liver cancer or stomach cancer that spread to the liver.

 

The post was hard to read.I thought it was stomach cancer spreading to the liver thus stomach cancer in the liver.