What are the types of cancer?
Cancers are often described by the body part that they originated in. However, some body parts contain multiple types of tissue, so for greater precision, cancers are additionally classified by the type of cell that the tumor cells originated from. These types include:
- Carcinoma: Cancers derived fromepithelial This group includes many of the most common cancers and include nearly all those in the breast, prostate, lung, pa
ncreas and colon.
- Sarcoma: Cancers arising from connective tissue (i.e. bone, cartilage,
fat , nerve), each of which develops from cells originating in mesenchyme cells outside the bone marrow. - Lymphoma and Leukemia: These two classes arise from hematopoietic (blood-forming) cells that leave the marrow and tend to mature in the lymph nodes and blood, respectively.
- Germ Cell Tumor: Cancers derived from pluripotent cells, most often presenting in the testicle or the ovary (seminoma and dysger
minoma , respectively). - Blastoma: Cancers derived from immature “precursor” cells or embryonic tissue.