Key differences between cancer cells and normal cells

03.01.2023

Key differences between cancer cells and normal cells

Normally, human cells grow and divide to form new cells and as the cells grow old or are damaged, they are replace with new cells. When this order of cell cycle breaks down and cells proliferate abnormally, they form tumors that can be cancerous or non-cancerous. Cancer is still a significant concern for public health as it can start anywhere in the human body, where it grows and spreads uncontrollably. Cancer cells are invasive and can invade nearby tissues or travel to distant places in the body to form new tumors, also called metastasis (1).

This article covers key points in which normal cells differ from cancerous cells (2,3).

Cancer cells

Normal cells

Cell division

Uncontrolled and deregulated growth

Cell division and growth is tightly regulated

Cell death/repair

Damaged cells that cannot be repaired remain alive and proliferate abnormally

Cell damage leads either to repair or cell death

Cell communication

Cells behave irresponsively of regulating signals coming from other cells

Cell behaviour is regulated by cell-cell contact and communication

Appearance under the microscope

Higher variability in cell size, darker appearance of the nucleus

Uniform appearance within the same cell type

Spread

Capacity to leave the tissue of origin, enter blood or lymphatic vessels to reach other tisseues and colonize them

Adhesion molecules prevent cells from detaching from their designed place and leave their tissue of origin

Maturation

They are rather undifferentiated or less differentiated that their normal counterpart

They reach maturity and differentiate

Immune system invasion

They escape immune detection and inhibit immune response

The immune system recognizes and removes damaged and dead cells

Blood supply

The formation of new vessels called neoangiogenesis is a hallmark of cancer

Angiogenesis usually occurs as part of the normal development of a tissue

References

Breitenbach M, Hoffmann J. Editorial: Cancer Models. Front Oncol. 2018 Oct 3;8:401. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2018.00401. PMID: 30338241; PMCID: PMC6178941.
Zhu S, Wang J, Zellmer L, Xu N, Liu M, Hu Y, Ma H, Deng F, Yang W, Liao DJ. Mutation or not, what directly establishes a neoplastic state, namely cellular immortality and autonomy, still remains unknown and should be prioritized in our research. J Cancer. 2022 Jul 4;13(9):2810-2843. doi: 10.7150/jca.72628. PMID: 35912015; PMCID: PMC9330459.
Chen P, Hsu WH, Han J, Xia Y, DePinho RA. Cancer Stemness Meets Immunity: From Mechanism to Therapy. Cell Rep. 2021 Jan 5;34(1):108597. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2020.108597. PMID: 33406434; PMCID: PMC7839836.