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Home > About childhood cancer >Cancer is a disease of the cells. It occurs when a single cell divides (makes a copy of itself) but 'goes wrong' and produces an abnormal cell. If the abnormal cell continues to divide and does not die, it has become a cancer cell.
A cancer cell will tend to divide quickly and can, but does not always, spread to other parts of the body.
There are two main types of cancer:
- Solid cancers/tumours – when an abnormal cell divides rapidly and a lump forms.
- Leukaemias and lymphomas – when the blood cells divide and multiply abnormally.
Because cancer is a disease that starts in a single cell, it is useful to understand the cell and what it does.
CLIC Sargent has produced information about the cell which explains how the cancer cell is different to a normal cell.
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