Presentation

Tumours, both malignant and benign, “present” (first become observable) as lumps or masses caused by the abnormal growth of cells. Many benign tumours are encased in a well-formed capsule. Malignant tumours, on the other hand, lack a true capsule and, even when limited to a specific location, invariably can be seen to have infiltrated surrounding tissues. The ability to invade adjacent tissues is a major characteristic that distinguishes malignant tumours from benign tumours.

A tumour mass is composed not only of abnormal tumour cells but also of normal host cells, which nourish the tumour, and immune cells, which attempt to react to the tumour. The “healthy,” or “normal,” component of the tumour is referred to as the tumour stroma. In some instances, tumour cells and cells in the tumour stroma cooperate or compete with one another, resulting in complex tumour behaviour.

Tumour cells’ uncontrolled growth typically is reflected in an increased rate of cell division and in the failure of tumour cells to die. The rate of tumour growth is determined by comparing the excess of cell production with cell loss. For a transformed tumour cell to produce a tumour of about one billion cells (a mass that weighs about 1 gram [0.04 ounce], the size at which it becomes clinically detectable), the cell must double its population 30 times.

A tumour nodule can grow to only a certain diameter (1 to 2 millimetres [0.04 to 0.08 inch]) before the cells are too distant from the nutrients and oxygen that they need to survive. For tumour expansion to occur, new capillaries (tiny blood vessels) must form within the tumour—a process called vascularization, or angiogenesis. Angiogenesis is a normal process in the body’s replacement of damaged tissue, but it can also occur under abnormal conditions, as in tumour progression. At some point, after months or even years as a harmless cluster of cells, tumours may suddenly begin to generate blood vessels. This occurs because they develop the ability to synthesize growth factors that specifically stimulate the formation of vessels.

Once they have begun to grow, tumours are able to sustain their own growth in a semi-independent fashion. This results from growth factors produced by the tumour cells themselves (a self-stimulatory process called autocriny) and by the stromal cells (a process called paracriny).

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Cancer cells can be distinguished from normal cells, and even from benign tumour cells, by microscopic examination. Differences in appearance include inconsistencies in size and shape and misshapen internal structures such as the nucleus, where genetic material is found. Genetic instability of the cell often gives rise to abnormal cells with giant nuclei that contain enormous amounts of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid). When those highly abnormal cells divide by mitosis, the number of chromosomes formed is abnormally elevated, and the mitotic figures (the structures that help to coordinate the division of the chromosomes) are often distorted. Cancer cells also tend to be less-well-differentiated than normal cells, a characteristic that is called anaplasia. When a malignant tumour no longer resembles the tissue of origin, it is said to be undifferentiated, or anaplastic.

Precancerous stage

Most tumours take many years to grow and form to the point where they produce clinical manifestations. Laryngeal cancer, for instance, appears only after several years of constant exposure to alcohol and tobacco smoke—a behaviour shared by many common tumours caused by environmental conditions. Careful studies of individuals with polyps of the colon (benign tumours of the inner lining of the large intestine) show that it takes three to five years for a new polyp to form and the same amount of time for the polyp to transform or progress into a carcinoma. Thus, when malignant tumours finally present with clinical manifestations, they are well into the last phase of their life.

In some instances it is known that certain abnormal cellular changes precede cancer. Those alterations are collectively referred to as precancerous lesions. A number of terms, such as hyperplasia, dysplasia, and neoplasia, are used to describe precancerous lesions. For example, endometrial hyperplasia (increased cell growth in the endometrium, or inner lining of the uterus) often precedes, and may even set the stage for, cancer of the endometrium. Some clinical conditions are also known to be associated with an increased risk of carcinoma. Indeed, long-standing ulcerative colitis and leukoplakia of the oral cavity carry such an increase in risk that they are known as preneoplastic conditions for adenocarcinoma of the colon and squamous cell carcinoma of the mouth.

Throughout the extended period of time that it takes for cells to acquire the abnormal changes that lead to cancer, they transmit encoded information to their daughter cells. With each round of cell division, pieces of new information associated with abnormal changes become permanently incorporated into the cells’ coded programs. Ultimately, it is the accumulation of that information that is responsible for giving rise to the gene products that in turn cause the abnormal behaviour displayed by cancer cells. In other words, the natural history of a tumour is similar to the natural history of an organism—both obey the tenets of evolutionary theory.

The noninvasive stage

Before tumours metastasize, or spread to other tissues of the body, they pass through a long period as noninvasive lesions. During that stage (the earliest stage in which cancer is recognized as such) the tumour remains in the anatomic site where it arose and does not invade beyond those confines. An example of such a lesion might be a carcinoma that has arisen from an epithelial cell lining the uterine cervix; as long as this carcinoma is confined to the mucosal lining and has not penetrated the basement membrane, which separates the lining from other tissue layers, it is known as a noninvasive tumour (or an in situ tumour). A tumour at that stage lacks its own network of blood vessels to supply nutrients and oxygen, and it has not sent cells into the circulatory system to give rise to new tumours. It also is usually asymptomatic—an unfortunate circumstance, because in situ tumours are curable.