Conclusion. Cancer is unchecked cell growth. Mutations in genes can cause cancer by accelerating cell division rates or inhibiting normal controls on the system, such as cell cycle arrest or programmed cell death. As a mass of cancerous cells grows, it can develop into a tumor.
Superficially, the connection between the cell cycle and cancer is obvious: cell cycle machinery controls cell proliferation, and cancer is a disease of inappropriate cell proliferation. Fundamentally, all cancers permit the existence of too many cells.
