Episode One: What Is Cancer

Cancer research and treatment is at the beginning of a whole new era of targeted, molecular treatments. This program sets the stage for understanding this.

Using re-enactment, graphics and interviews, the first episode presents a clear, basic explanation of how normal cells behave and cancer cells begin. This is illustrated by following a hypothetical cancer patient through diagnosis and treatment.

Featured medical experts in this program include author and MIT researcher Robert A. Weinberg, PhD of the Whitehead Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; C. Norman Coleman, MD, Director of the Radiation Oncology Sciences Program at the National Cancer Institute; Mark Israel, MD, and Christopher H. Lowrey, MD, both of the Norris Cotton Cancer Center, and Andrew C. von Eschenbach, Director of the National Cancer Institute.

Additional Materials


Introduction
Andrew von Eschenbach, MD
Director, National Cancer Institute
Video | Transcript

Links:
National Cancer Institute
History of Cancer (NCI)
Understanding Cancer (NCI)
American Cancer Society


Normal Cells and the Formation of Cancer
Robert Weinberg, PhD
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Video | Transcript







How Cancer Cells Differ

C. Norman Coleman, MD
National Cancer Institute

Robert Weinberg, PhD
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Video | Transcript


How Tumors Grow and Metastasize

C. Norman Coleman, MD
National Cancer Institute

Robert Weinberg, PhD
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Video | Transcript


Apoptosis - Programmed Cell Death

C. Norman Coleman, MD
National Cancer Institute

Robert Weinberg, PhD
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Video | Transcript

Links:
Apoptosis: a Definition