Cell publishing has made a wonderful new review free for your download and reading. If you want a crash course on why cancer happens, or want to gather a list of subtopics to explore to fully understand cancer, I recommend stopping by their site while it's there.

 Hallmarks of Cancer: The Next Generation by Douglas Hanahan and Robert Weinberg.

I want to print out the diagrams and hang them on my wall (I don't know if that's a tribute to the information they contain or my dorkiness..either way, I'm stunned at this review article!)

The paper provides an overview of what we've learned about cancer in the last decade, building on what we understand about all cancers and the overproliferation of cells that results in malignant events as the authors presented in a similar review in 2000. They add two hallmarks of general applicability to the previously recognized six, in addition to highlighting advances in understanding the mechanisms leading to each conceptual landmark - expanding the picture we have of cancer development and reiterating its complexity.

The only way to effectively and efficiently treat disease is to understand the processes underlying it, and cancer has been a misunderstood foe for decades. There is still much to learn, but if you want insight to what's known, read this paper!