One mutation does not make a cancer. It usually takes 5 to 10 mutations accumulating across several genes: a few oncogenes stuck on the accelerator plus a few tumour suppressors with failed brakes, with a broken p53 as the classic case. Tumour cells crowd out healthy tissue, and once the core of the mass runs short of oxygen it recruits blood vessels of its own. Metastasis is the moment cells break away and travel through the bloodstream; and because tumour cells divide so fast, drugs aimed at fast-dividing cells also hit hair follicles, gut lining and bone marrow.
One mutation does not make a cancer. It usually takes 5 to 10 mutations accumulating across several genes: a few oncogenes stuck on the accelerator plus a few tumour suppressors with failed brakes, with a broken p53 as the classic case. Tumour cells crowd out healthy tissue, and once the core of the mass runs short of oxygen it recruits blood vessels of its own. Metastasis is the moment cells break away and travel through the bloodstream; and because tumour cells divide so fast, drugs aimed at fast-dividing cells also hit hair follicles, gut lining and bone marrow.
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