The cell

The cell is the basic building block of life. It contains a nucleus which holds its genetic material (or code) which is a set of instructions telling the cell to carry out a certain function within the body.
 
There are over two hundred different types of cell in the body that all do individual jobs. They can group together to form organs and tissues, so a liver cell will form the liver, and a brain cell will form the brain.

Others cells stay in reserve to be activated when needed – to replace a diseased cell for example, or to help heal a wound. 

The cell carries out its role by dividing or reproducing to make an exact copy of itself.

One cell becomes two, two then become four and four become eight and so on. This is called 'cell division' and happens rapidly when we grow, but more slowly in adulthood when only damaged cells need to be replaced. It also happens in a very ordered way, with a normal cell following the same rules:

• It reproduces a limited number of times before dying.
• It dies if it becomes damaged.
• It responds to chemical messages from other cells which tell it what to do.
• It dies if it travels to the wrong place in the body.

Because the body contains over two hundred different types of cell, there are also over two hundred different forms of cancer that occur if a particular cell type 'goes wrong'.

There is more information about this in our cancer cell section.
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