Cancer is a group of diseases that happen when healthy cells in the body become abnormal, and start to divide and grow in an uncontrolled way that eventually overwhelms the body they’re using. Normally, the body's cells grow and divide in a tightly regulated way to keep the body healthy and functioning properly. But when something goes wrong with this process and some cells continue to divide and grow even when they're not supposed to, a mass of tissue called a tumor can form. Cancer. \ \ # Cancer's unfair advantages Cancer cells do three main things as part of their life cycle: 1. Take root in the body somewhere, like a seed sprouting in the dirt. 2. Grow unseen and unchecked by our immune system. 3. Spread from one location (organ) to another, like more seeds in the wind.  And somehow, cancer cells have developed some incredible super powers that defy the laws all the normal cells in our bodies follow: 1. Cancer cells wear special invisibility cloaks, which makes our immune system unaware it has defective and dangerous cells doing business in our body. 2. They have hacked the ability to develop their own fuel supply channels by creating new blood vessels, a process called [angiogenesis](../4.%20Lions%20&%20Tigers%20&%20Bears%20(Pathways%20&%20Drivers)/Angiogenesis.md) that's normally restricted to growing young bodies and repairing injuries. 3. They have the unique ability to adapt and use all three primary metabolic fuel sources (sugar, fat and protein) to fuel their growth depending on the circumstances. 4. Unlike other normal cells, they have developed the ability to ride our bloodstream like a raft on a river to other areas of our bodies, to spread and invade other organs. \ \ # Play cancer's game Learning about these unique cancer superpowers is important if we hope to beat cancer at its own game. Because many of these processes have special "keys" that can turn them down (inhibitors), or turn them up (activators). Fighting cancer requires understanding what these keys are, and how you can use them to turn things on and off in your own body to tip the odds in your favour. ----