Topic summary
premalignant
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Precancerous condition.
Pathophysiology
The pathophysiology of precancerous lesions is thought to be similar to that of cancer, and also varies depending on the disease site and type of lesion. It is thought that cancer is always preceded by a clinically silent premalignant phase during which many oncogenic genetic and epigenetic alterations accumulate before it is truly malignant. The duration of this premalignant phase can vary from cancer to cancer, disease site to site and from individual to individual. Increasing evidence suggests that the evasion of the immune system occurs in premalignant lesions, and that the nature of the first immune response to these lesions may determine if they progress to cancer or regress to normal tissue.