I am a nineteen year old student living in the Oregon area.
I graguated from my High school in '08 and have always been into science.
My reason for posting this was to ask the void of Doctors and other Scientists about the building blocks of a cancer cell.
This came up when I had a dream about killing cancer with acid and my main question being, Is that possible?

My knowledge of the cancer cell is limited but I am told that it is just a cell that grows uncontrollably,
I do wish to know more but my resourses are limited. So resort to my last option the internet.

Hopfully I will get some answers and start some interesting conversations.

Thanks for listening,
Andrew P.

Hi
Cancer is the general name for a group of more than 100 diseases in which cells in a part of the body begin to grow out of control. Although there are many kinds of cancer, they all start because abnormal cells grow out of control. Untreated cancers can cause serious illness and even death.

How a normal cell becomes cancer
Normal body cells grow, divide, and die in an orderly fashion. During the early years of a person's life, normal cells divide more quickly until the person becomes an adult. After that, cells in most parts of the body divide only to replace worn-out or dying cells and to repair injuries.
Cancer cells develop because of damage to DNA. This substance is in every cell and directs all of the cell's activities. Most of the time when DNA becomes damaged, either the cell dies or is able to repair the DNA. In cancer cells, the damaged DNA is not repaired. People can inherit damaged DNA, which accounts for inherited cancers. Many times though, a person’s DNA gets damaged by things in the environment, like,chemicals, viruses, tobacco smoke or too much sunlight.

How cancers differ
Cancers can begin in many different parts of the body. But, different types of cancer can act very differently. For example, lung cancer and breast cancer are very different diseases. They grow at different rates and respond to different treatments. That's why people with cancer need treatment that is aimed at their particular kind of cancer.

How cancer spreads (metastasis)
Because cancer cells keep growing and dividing, they are different from normal cells. Instead of dying, they outlive normal cells and continue to grow and make new abnormal cells.
Cancer usually forms as a tumor (a lump or mass.) Some cancers, like leukemia, do not form tumors. Instead, these cancer cells involve the blood and blood-forming organs, and circulate through other tissues where they grow.
Cancer cells often travel through the bloodstream or through the lymph system to other parts of the body where they begin to grow and replace normal tissue. This spreading process is called metastasis.
Even when cancer has spread to a different part of the body it is still named for the place in the body where it started. For example, breast cancer that has spread to the liver is metastatic breast cancer, not liver cancer. Prostate cancer that has spread to the bone is called metastatic prostate cancer, not bone cancer.
Remember that not all tumors are cancerous. Benign (non-cancerous) tumors do not spread to other parts of the body (metastasize) and are very rarely life-threatening.

So with the acid. Is it possible I mean I was talking with my Science teacher and she says that since the cancer is just constently growing human cells it would be hard to kill the cancer and not damage any normal cells and even if the acid was designed to attack the cancer cells specifically it would not beable to kill off the cancer and not kill off normal cells at the same time.

I understand that you couldn't just go pour acid on a tumor and stop it, but is there some way to change Acid on a melecular level to have it target just damaged DNA or in that case the "source" of the problem. cause if you just poured acid on the tumor it would get rid of the visible tumor but there would be no way to tell if all the damaged DNA was destoryed and if it wasn't it would just grow back.

I know there are different types of acid so maybe there's already one that works at that level. Or is all this just wishful thinking?

So even though the treatments are different, is it the same basic idea of stop it from growing and then remove it? or are there other methods?

So benign means that it's not cancer, but that it is a non-life threatening tumor. and if that's the case does that mean the tumor can still make you sick and you will need it removed? or, that it's just a lump in your x-ray that's not to worry about?