National Cancer Prevention and Treatment Week丨Is it true that everyone has cancer cells in their body? Experts say →

April 15 to 21, 2022 is the 28th National Cancer Prevention and Treatment Week.

This year's theme is "Act Early to Prevent and Treat Cancer".

Cancer is a major disease that seriously threatens the lives and health of the Chinese people. According to the latest statistics from the National Cancer Center, the national cancer incidence rate in 2016 was 293.91/100,000, with approximately 4.064 million new cases, and the mortality rate was 174.55/100,000, with approximately 2.414 million deaths. Both the incidence and mortality rates of men were higher than those of women.

For the general public, many people still feel scared when talking about "cancer", and think that cancer is a terminal illness. In fact, cancer is a chronic disease. It usually takes more than ten years to several decades for normal cells to develop into cancer cells. It is a multi-factor, multi-stage, complex and gradual process.

Recently, at the "The Truth about Cancer Prevention" cancer early screening science live broadcast, many academicians and experts in the field of cancer prevention and treatment directly answered the questions that concern the people most.

Is it true that everyone has cancer cells in their body?

"There is some truth to this statement. Our body interacts with many carcinogenic factors every moment, which may lead to DNA instability and cell transformation in the body." Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and deputy director of the Peking University Academic Affairs Committee Zhan Qimin explained that in a sense, cancer will continue to occur.

Zhan Qimin also said that there is no need to worry during this process, because humans have formed a powerful immune monitoring system during the evolution process, which can continuously eliminate single cancer cells in the body. Therefore, maintaining a good attitude can maintain a stable state in the body and achieve the best state of the immune system. Through good means, early screening and early diagnosis can be carried out to detect early cancer or precancerous lesions, and timely identify and eliminate cancer cells.

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Is cancer inheritance a "fate"? Is the concept of tumor constitution scientific?

In reality, it is often found that some families have a high chance of suffering from tumors. So is cancer inheritance a "fate"? Is it scientific to say that "some people are born with a tumor-prone constitution"?

"Some tumors occur due to a certain important gene mutation. For example, a gene mutation called BRCA can easily lead to breast cancer and ovarian cancer with a possibility of up to 70%," explained Zhan Qimin. However, the probability of cancer being formed entirely due to genetic factors only accounts for 5% of the entire tumor.

There is also a hereditary susceptibility gene in the body, which is prone to tumors when interacting with carcinogenic external factors. "Therefore, staying away from carcinogens and maintaining a healthy state can minimize the genetic susceptibility factors," said Zhan Qimin.

In response to the idea of ​​tumor constitution, Tian Yantao, chairman of the China Anti-Cancer Association's Tumor Prevention and Treatment Science Popularization Committee, said that tumors are a disease caused by the combined effects of internal and external factors. In 2020, there were 4.57 million new cancer patients in my country, of which 5%-10% were hereditary tumors, and more than 90% of patients were caused by poor control of acquired eating habits, daily life, and emotional management.

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Will there be any signs before the tumor arrives, sounding the alarm in advance?

"The early symptoms of all tumors are without typical symptoms." Wang Guiqi, a tenured professor at the Cancer Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences/Peking Union Medical College Hospital, said that when you think you are very healthy, you enjoy eating everything, so you should take the initiative to get screened and diagnosed early to discover the "signs" of tumors earlier.

"The incidence of cancer in our country is not high, but the biggest problem is that the mortality rate of cancer patients in our country is relatively high, and the five-year survival rate is relatively low." Wang Guiqi said that to solve this problem, early diagnosis and treatment must be achieved through screening, and even some tumors can be cured.

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Comprehensive sources: Xinhuanet, Science and Technology Daily, People's Daily, Healthy China, etc.