AQA Biology 4.2.2.7
Cancer
Cells that divide without control form a tumour. Watch two tumours grow side by side: one stays put, one spreads.
Triple Science · Higher tier
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A wart on a hand.
Some lumps, like a wart or a mole, can sit in the same place on the skin for years without changing.
If you had to guess, does a lump of cells in the body always stay where it is, or can some spread?
Benign and malignant
Two tumours, side by side.
Cancer is the result of changes in cells that lead to uncontrolled growth and division. The mass of cells formed is a tumour. Step both tumours forward and compare.
Benign: A cell starts dividing without control.
Malignant: A cell starts dividing without control.
Risk factors
Lifestyle, and genes.
Scientists have identified lifestyle risk factors for various types of cancer. There are also genetic risk factors for some cancers. A risk factor raises the chance of a cancer; it doesn’t make it certain. Tap each.
Cancer is non-communicable, though viruses living in cells can trigger some cancers: in Health, disease and risk factors.
Think again · is every tumour cancer?
“A tumour always means cancer.”
Your call
ChooseA tumour is found. It is contained in one area, inside a membrane, and does not invade other parts of the body. What kind is it?
Sort
Benign or malignant?
Place each statement.
Tap a card, then tap the box it belongs in. Tap a placed card to take it back.
Command words in this lesson
- Compare
- Benign against malignant, point by point.
- Describe
- How a malignant tumour spreads: invades, blood, secondary tumours.
- Give
- A lifestyle or genetic risk factor.
Key fact
Benign tumours stay in one area and don’t invade other parts of the body. Malignant tumours are cancers: they invade neighbouring tissues and spread in the blood to form secondary tumours.
Key note · AQA 4.2.2.7
Cancer
- Cancer is the result of changes in cells that lead to uncontrolled growth and division, forming a tumour.
- Benign tumours are growths of abnormal cells contained in one area, usually within a membrane. They don’t invade other parts of the body.
- Malignant tumour cells are cancers. They invade neighbouring tissues and spread to different parts of the body in the blood, where they form secondary tumours.
- There are lifestyle risk factors for various types of cancer, and genetic risk factors for some.
Photograph this card. Tomorrow, cover it and say each line first.
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Not sure how benign and malignant differ?
The tumour drawings are schematic and not to scale.