Cancer Flashcards
What are the 5 most common cancer types and why?
Lung, stomach, breast, colon, and cervix
-bc we come into contact with carcinogens in theses areas!
Benign verses malignant?
Benign: doesn’t metastasize (spread)
Malignant: metastasizes (spreads)
What are the 5 points of the genetic paradigm of cancer?
1: cancer can be caused by external factors
2: cancer can be caused by abnormal chromosomes
3. Viruses cause cancer
4: certain cancers can be inherited
5: cancer is a result of genetic mutations
What is a mutagen?
Anything that causes an increase in the occurrence of mutations!
Ex: X-rays!
What are six external carcinogens?
1: Smoke!
2: Vinyl chloride (new car smell)
3: Benzene (sunscreen)
4: Arsenic (in soil)
5: Asbestos (building materials)
6: Radium (ethylene gas-medical equipment)
What causes the Philadelphia chromosome and what does it cause?
It results from a translocation between chromosomes 9 and 22
-causes Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML)
How does the Philadelphia chromosome cause cancer?
It creates a BCR-ABL gene, a proto-oncogene that is an active kinase that promotes the cell cycle
What virus was first proven to cause cancer?
The Rous Sarcoma Virus (RSV)
What pathway is turned on by viruses that often leads to cancer?
The SRC pathway!
-in about 50% of tumors, overactive SRC which is similar to ERK
-makes tumors get their own blood vessels!
What is a proto-oncogene?
A gene that drives the cell cycle, if it mutates to consistently on then it causes cancer and is called an oncogene!
-ex: Myc, Ras, Erk
What is MYC?
Drives cell cycle, often disgusted in cancers due to genetic mutations
Do Myc and Ras increase in severity if paired with each other?
Yes!
How does someone get hereditary retinoblastoma?
-you get a copy of a deletion or loss of function Rb gene (which is a tumor suppressant)
-one bad copy isn’t enough for cancer, you need to get a mutation in your other copy before you lose tumor suppressant and cancer forms
-since only need one more mutation it is scarily common!
What are two important tumor suppressor genes?
P53 and RB!
What are the who genetic ways that cancer is developed?
1: overactivity mutation leads to gain of function: SINGLE mutation: creates ONCOGENE “stuck gas pedal”
2:loss of function: need at least TWO mutations: lose a tumor suppressor gene “no breaks”
