Home > Term: carcinogen
carcinogen
1) Substances that increase the risk of neoplasms in humans or animals. Both genotoxic chemicals, which affect DNA directly, and nongenotoxic chemicals, which induce neoplasms by other mechanism, are included.
2) Any chemical that can increase the risk of neoplasms in humans or animals.
Definition from: Unified Medical Language System (NCI Thesaurus) at the National Library of Medicine Any substance that causes cancer.
3) A carcinogen is an agent with the capacity to cause cancer in humans. Carcinogens may be natural, such as aflatoxin, which is produced by a fungus and sometimes found on stored grains, or manmade, such as asbestos or tobacco smoke. Carcinogens work by interacting with a cell's DNA and inducing genetic mutations.
- Part of Speech: noun
- Industry/Domain: Medical
- Category: Human genome
- Company: National Library of Medicine
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Creator
- Max Bryant
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