Page 6 - Kids and Cancer
P. 6
A cancer cell undergoes mitosis, the splitting of a
single cell into two cells. Cancer spreads through the
body through cellular division. Unlike other damaged
cells, these malignant cells never receive messages
to shut down, and therefore keep replicating.
common types of cancer include carcinomas, which are cancers
of epithelial cells that line inner and outer body surfaces; sarco-
mas, which are cancers of bone, muscle, and other soft tissues;
lymphomas, which are cancers of the lymphatic tissues that are
part of the disease- fi ghting immune system; and leukemias, which
attack white blood cells.
Leukemia
Some kinds of cancer are more common than others, and those
that commonly occur in children and teens are different from
those that occur in adults. The most common type in children
and teens is leukemia, which accounts for about 30 percent of
pediatric (childhood) cancers. Leukemia is cancer of the white
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