RT Book, Section A1 Thu, Kelsie L. A1 Cescon, David W. A1 Hakem, Razqallah A2 Harrington, Lea A. A2 Tannock, Ian F. A2 Hill, Richard P. A2 Cescon, David W. SR Print(0) ID 1179324035 T1 Cell Proliferation and Death T2 The Basic Science of Oncology, 6e YR 2021 FD 2021 PB McGraw-Hill Education PP New York, NY SN 9781259862076 LK accessbiomedicalscience.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1179324035 RD 2024/03/28 AB Our cells are continuously proliferating and dying. Development from a single-celled egg into adults with approximately 1014 cells requires massive cell proliferation. However, selective cell death is also essential for development, for example, to prune excess neurons in the brain and to sculpt the fingers. As adults, most of our organs exist in a dynamic steady state, being constantly renewed by cell proliferation and death. For example, more than a million blood and intestinal cells are turned over every second. In the extreme, cells live for only a few days before dying, as is the case for neutrophils and the cells that line the small intestine. In the midst of this continual and profuse cell renewal lies the constant threat of cancer. Cancerous cells invariably contain alterations to genes encoding regulators of cell proliferation and cell death and are generally thought to arise from actively proliferating cell types.