Question

What is Adenocarcinoma?

Answer 1

Hint: This is actually a form of cancer. Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the world (Cardiac arrest is the primary leading cause). It is defined as uncontrolled cell division that leads to the formation of a mass of cells called tumor/neoplasm. The tumor is of two types:
1. Benign tumor: Encapsulated mass of cells that remains confined to their site of origin.
2. Malignant tumor: non-encapsulated cells migrate from their side of origin to other places and may induce development of tumors there. This is called metastasis.

Complete answer:
Adenocarcinoma is actually the type of cancer that starts in the glandular (secretory) cells of the body. It is a specialized form of cancer. The affected organs/cells are stomach, salivary glands, liver, pancreas, secretory cells of the small intestine, etc. By the word ‘specialized’ it is meant that these types of cancer only occur in a specific type of cells only. Some other forms of specialized cancers are:
1. Leukemia: Cancer which occurs in leukocytes (WBCs).
2. Lymphoma: Cancer of lymphatic tissues.
3. Glioma: Cancer of the glial cells.
4. Melanoma: Cancer of the pigmented cells of skins.

Note:
The word ‘carcinoma’ in adenocarcinoma necessarily means that it involves the cancer of the epithelial cells only. The cancer of epithelial cells (carcinoma) is actually the most common type of cancer (nearly 85% of the cancer are carcinomas). It may be ectodermal, mesodermal, and endodermal in origin. The cancer which involves the connective tissue cells is known as sarcoma. It is mesodermal in origin.
No cancerous growth is possible in mature muscular cells and neurons since they are not capable of division.