Question: how to cancer cells form and i heard that if you keep your umbilical chord you can grow extra cells is this true?

Louise Walkin answered on 10 Nov 2012:

There are lots of different ways that cancer cells form, I think this is why it is so difficult fo find a cure to cancer. Basically, cancer is when cells division gets out of control and the cells divide too many times – normally due to a mutation in the DNA of the cell. This can be caused by many things such as the persons genes or the environment, like something such as smoking for lung cancer. When the cell division gets out of control you end up with a new mass of tissue, called a tumour. This is the normal symptom of cancer and this nees to be removed to make the person better. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy blast the cells that have been dividing and kill them so that the cancer doesn’t come back. Our hair cells are constantly growing and that is why some chemo patients lose thair hair after treatment.

Yes, umbilical cod blood does contain something called stem cells. These are cells that can become any cell type in the body. They can be programmed to become any cell type. It’s quite amazing actually! The blood can be collected after the baby is born and the cord has been cut away from the belly-button, the cells can be collected and then frozen for the future should that person ever become ill. I think research is still going on to make sure that these cells can be used in all the ways we want to, but it is definitely something very exciting!