What is cancer? This word originates from the Greek word "karkinos," which means "crab". It is said that, in ancient times, the Greek doctor Hippocrates first compared this disease to a crab, seeing sick parts of the body of his patients that were hard as a rock, which caused pain like a crab's pinch and could extend to invade other body regions. In biology, cancer is a big mistake: cells start to grow without control within the body. Starting when a baby is conceived, every part of the body grows and develops under strict control. This control shapes our fingers, our bones, our brains, all our organs. In fact, the type of cancer that grows depends on the type of cell that makes a mistake and loses this control. For example, we can have cancer of the brain (neuroblastoma), cancer of the bone (osteosarcoma), or cancer of the skin pigment cells, called melanocytes (melanoma). Often, the cause of the cancer is unknown, or is due to multiple mistakes that accumulate. Sometimes, we know why cancer happens: there are certain things that damage the body and break the mechanisms of control.

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