metastasis 2

Question 1

what is a reactive stroma

Answer 1

a stroma where cancer cells have invaded and interacted with it

Question 2

what is MET

Answer 2

mesenchymal-epithelial transition

Question 3

what is partial EMT

Answer 3

when the cell hasn’t fully gone from one state to the other

Question 4

what is cluster migration?

Answer 4

when a bunch of cells migrate as a group

Question 5

what is E-M plasticity

Answer 5

the cell can keep going from one state to the other

Question 5

what is cell fate

Answer 5

what that cell will eventually turn into

Question 6

what does having a mixed population of cells (some E some partial and some M) result in

Answer 6

secondary tumours

Question 7

how does the TME (tumour microenvironment) influence cancer cell behaviour: CAFs

Answer 7

Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts - fibroblasts secrete factors that change cancer cell behaviour e.g. uPA secretion

Question 8

what does uPA do

Answer 8

it induces cells to become more mesenchymal

Question 9

how does the TME (tumour microenvironment) influence cancer cell behaviour: immune cells

Answer 9

there is inflammation in tumours, macrophages produce the growth factor TGFβ which makes cancer cells change whether they’re epithelial or mesenchymal

Question 10

how does the TME (tumour microenvironment) influence cancer cell behaviour: hypoxia

Answer 10

HIF-1 is turned on and that then turns on TWIST and ZEB which directly repress E-cadherin, making cells more mesenchymal

Question 11

2 things that macrophages stimulate

Answer 11

invasion of the extracellular matrix and intravasation

Question 12

what GF do cancer cells respond to that is released from macrophages

Answer 12

EGF - epidermal growth factor

Question 13

what does EGF do

Answer 13

stimulates epidermal cells to grow and repair damage but it also stimulates cancer cells to grow

Question 14

what do cancer cells produce that effects macrophages

Answer 14

CSF-1 - Colony-stimulating factor -1

Question 15

what does CSF-1 do

Answer 15

interacts with macrophages to make them more active which in turn can make cancer cells more invasive

Question 16

what happens regarding platelets when cancer cells enter the blood

Answer 16

platelets attach to the cancer cells and form a microthrombus which can protect the cancer cell from shear stress

Question 17

what is shear stress

Answer 17

stress from the force of the flow of liquid (blood stream)

Question 18

what happens if loads of platelets attach to a cancer cell in a capillary

Answer 18

it can all get stuck and make the cancer cell resident in a tissue

Question 19

what growth factors do platelets release and what effect does this have on cancer cells

Answer 19

PDGF (platelet-derived growth factor) and TGFβ

Question 20

what does PDGF do

Answer 20

stimulate platelets to make more copies of itself, this can also stimulate cancer cells

Question 21

how does EMT change how cells respond to drugs

Answer 21

there is an increase in ABC transporter expression, therefore drugs are exported out of the cell and so cancer cells are more resistant to drugs

Question 22

what are ABC transporters?

Answer 22

transmembrane transporter proteins, help things leave cell