A potential cancer-causing gene coding for a protein with cell cycle control responsibilities is a carcinogen, and a gene coding for a protein that stimulates cell division is a proto-oncogene.
<h3>What is carcinogen?</h3>
Anything that has the potential to cause cancer is a carcinogen.
They fall into three main categories: oncogenic (cancer-causing) viruses, physical carcinogens, and chemical carcinogens (including those derived from biological sources).
The majority of carcinogens, either alone or in combination, cause cancer by interacting with cell DNA and impairing healthy cellular function.
As a result, a tumour (an abnormal tissue development) eventually develops.
Tumors have the capacity to spread (metastasize) from their original sites, invade, and cause dysfunction in other tissues, leading to organ failure and death.
The two main ways that carcinogens cause these tumors to develop are through DNA changes that promote cell division and stop cells from being able to self-destruct in response to common triggers like DNA damage or cellular injury (apoptosis).
There are substances known as carcinogens that cause cancer by means of non-genotoxic processes such immunosuppression and the development of tissue-specific inflammation.
