Why Muscular Cancer Is Very Rare

How many times have you heard of muscular cancer? Never, would be the answer from most people?  Cancer of the muscles are very rare. Why does cancer not develop in muscles?

                                           

                                                  Post mitotic cells

First, muscle cancers do occur, but they are rare. The reason muscle cells rarely become cancerous is that they are "post-mitotic cells.

Post-mitotic means the cells no longer replicate themselves via mitosis. The process of carcinogenesis occurs in cells that are replicating. The process of carcinogenesis begins with a mutation in a cell that is passed on to the daughter cell when the initial cell replicates - this process is called "Initiation".

As more and more of these mutated daughter cells replicate, the potential for more mutations occurs (again mutation occurs during the process of cell replication called mitosis). This process of ongoing development of additional mutations is called "Promotion". At this stage of carcinogenesis a "tumor" has formed, but it is not yet cancerous.

The final stage of carcinogenesis is called "Progression". This last stage occurs when tumor cells acquire additional mutations (again, mutations require cell replication) that allow the tumor cells to spread (metastasize) - thus, becoming "cancer".

You can get sarcoma muscle cancer which is a cancer of the soft tissue that support the muscles.

Sarcoma Muscle Cancer - Soft tissues are the tissues that connect, support or surround organs of the body or other structures such as muscles, tendons, fat, blood vessels, nerves and tissue around the joints. Malignant or cancerous tumors that develop in a child's soft tissue are called sarcomas. They are relatively uncommon, accounting for less than 1 percent of all new cancer cases each year.

http://www.squidoo.com/sarcoma-muscle-cancer