Cancer Effect on Tissue Types

Cancer cells display peculiar behavior in that they appear to proliferate uncontrollably by development and differentiation, invading nearly all body tissues. Uncontrolled cancer cell spread results in dysfunctional cell regulation systems, and a person may show failed body functions or abnormal behaviors (Forbes et al 807). There are hundreds of cancer forms, based on the body tissue that has proliferated. All each of these types of cancer responds differently to therapies, they are all handled differently. Cancer pathology approaches the disease from two perspectives: malignant tumors and benign tumors. A tumor is defined as any form of proliferation of the body cells or tissues whether benign or malignant.

A benign tumor is the type of cancer that remains in confinement and doesn’t invade the surrounding normal tissues or cells nor the distant cells and tissues while malignant tumor invades the surrounding cells and tissues making them proliferate too, and spreads throughout the body through the circulatory system and lymphatic systems (Horvath & Steve 3156). As such, benign tumor can be treated through removal surgically making it the most contained cancer. On the other hand, malignant cancer can metastasize making it difficult contain since it is not easy to apply the localized removal through surgical means (Hoadley et al 941). Tissue types are prone to cancerous infections at different rates and magnitudes than others. It is therefore important to conduct a research that takes the form of laboratory test to have a better understanding of the body tissues that are easily affected by cancer and which ones are not.

Hypothesis

The study is a series of lab tests where the findings shall rely on as a basis to either accept the null or reject it. Upon rejection of the null hypothesis, the alternative hypothesis is taken as the true decision.

Ho: ALL TISSUE TYPES ARE AFFECTED BY CANCER

H1: NOT ALL TISSUE TYPES ARE AFFECTED BY CANCER

Methodology

A rat specimen was obtained and infected with cancerous cells then allowed enough time for the cells to spread in the body. It was then killed and the different body tissues obtained. We selected four basic tissues which are cardiac muscle, smooth muscle, skeletal muscle, and goblet cells. These tissues were then pigmented and slides prepared for view under the electron microscope (Simon, Richard & Sameek 359; Vail, David & Rodney). Observations were made and recorded appropriately in correspondence to a particular tissue.

Discussions

Our observations of the four types of tissues selected for the study showed little to no effect on the cancer cells. The images of the cells have been provided as viewed under the electron microscope.

Figure 1: Smooth Muscle

The smooth muscle image above for example has no sighs of cancer invasion

Figure 2: Skeletal Muscle

The skeletal muscles were free from the effect of the cancer

Figure 3: Goblet Cell

Goblet cells showed little signs of cancer that it did not qualify for justification of cancer cells.

Figure 4: Cardiac Muscle

The cardiac muscle was free from the infection.

Explanations

From the above observations, it can be seen that the tissues were not affected by the cancer despite being exposed to cancer cells. It is therefore sufficient enough to reject the Ho: (ALL TISSUE TYPES ARE AFFECTED BY CANCER) and accept H1: (NOT ALL TISSUE TYPES ARE AFFECTED BY CANCER).

Summary

It has been found that despite the prevalence of cancer on the body tissues, not all tissues are affected the same by cancer cells. Some may be affected immediately requiring quicker treatment as well while others are affected at a slow pace making them sustain longer periods period of exposure to cancerous cells. Animal specimens are the best proposed at school level and their availability is within reach (Richards et al 407). It is therefore advisable to advance cancer treatments differently depending on the tissue that is diagnosed with the cancer infection. This calls for immediate removal of the affected body tissue and cells to avoid the spread of the infection to other body parts.

This research paper has conducted are well-planned laboratory study of the tissue types affected by cancer cells. It was not clear until the outcome of the research whether all tissues were affected by cancerous cells and the extent of the effect. Muscle tissues can be said to be less affected by cancer probably because of their ever active nature. This is not to say that they are free from cancer attacks rather that it takes much longer for them to be affected making control and treatment efforts more effective on these tissue types. These could mean that cancer is likely to affect more the tissue types that are less active. Further research at advanced stages should seek to understand the extent of cancer damage on tissue types upon the same period of exposure.

Work Cited

Forbes, Simon A., et al. “COSMIC: exploring the world’s knowledge of somatic mutations in human cancer.” Nucleic acids research 43.D1 (2014): D805-D811.

Hoadley, Katherine A., et al. “Multiplatform analysis of 12 cancer types reveals molecular classification within and across tissues of origin.” Cell158.4 (2014): 929-944.

Horvath, Steve. “DNA methylation age of human tissues and cell types.” Genome biology 14.10 (2013): 3156.

Richards, Sue, et al. “Standards and guidelines for the interpretation of sequence variants: a joint consensus recommendation of the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics and the Association for Molecular Pathology.” Genetics in medicine 17.5 (2015): 405-423.

Simon, Richard, and Sameek Roychowdhury. “Implementing personalized cancer genomics in clinical trials.” Nature reviews Drug discovery 12.5 (2013): 358-369.

Vail, David M., and Rodney L. Page. Withrow & MacEwen’s Small Animal Clinical Oncology. Elsevier-Saunders, 2013.