Detection of cancer before a clinical diagnosis could give patients and caregivers more time for intervention and may lead to better outcomes because tumors are more likely to be curable
Right. Like you might walk by someone with a cold, and inhale a small number of their virus particles. But your immune system can handle that. If you spend a lot of time with them face-to-face, the virus gets a foothold (because of inhaling more viruses, this part isn’t a perfect metaphor) and starts multiplying, it can overwhelm the first line of defense and become an infection.
That makes sense if I’m understanding you correctly. You might have cancerous cells, but it’s not actually cancer.
Right. Like you might walk by someone with a cold, and inhale a small number of their virus particles. But your immune system can handle that. If you spend a lot of time with them face-to-face, the virus gets a foothold (because of inhaling more viruses, this part isn’t a perfect metaphor) and starts multiplying, it can overwhelm the first line of defense and become an infection.