Cancer Cell Biology

Question 1

What is metastasis?

Answer 1

The spreading of relentlessly dividng cells from one part of the body to another.

Question 2

What are cancer cells?

Answer 2

cells that divide relentlessly forming solid tumors or flooding the blood with abnormal cells.

Question 3

When cancer was discovered, what was it called? why?

Answer 3

“Crab” or “crayfish” because from the appearance,
the veins stretched on all sides as the animal the crab has its feet”

Question 4

At first is was thought that cancer was made up of what? What is it actually made out of?

Answer 4

It was thought that cancer is made up of lymph. Now it is known that it is made up of cells.

Question 5

Which continent has the greatest incident of cancer?

Answer 5

Asia

Question 6

What are the different types of cancer cells?

Answer 6

carcinoma
leukaemia
lymphoma
myeloma
sarcoma
central nervous system
mesothelioma

Question 7

What are carcinoma cancer cells?

Answer 7

the majority of cancer cells are epithelial in origin (beginning in the membrane tissues that line the surfaces of the body).

Question 8

What are leukaemia cancer cells?

Answer 8

originate in the tissues responsible for producing new blood cells (most commonly in the bone marrow).

Question 9

What are lymphoma cancer cells? What is a different name for them?

Answer 9

Lymphoma = myeloma
- derived from cells of the immune system.

Question 10

What are sarcoma cancer cells?

Answer 10

originating in connective tissue, including fat, muscle and bone.

Question 11

What are central nervous system cancer cells?

Answer 11

derived from cells of the brain and spinal cord.

Question 12

What are mesothelioma cancer cells?

Answer 12

originating in the mesothelium (lining of body cavities).

Question 13

How does the blood of a leukemic compare to the blood of a healthy person?

Answer 13

normal blood contains red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets.
leukemia cells outnumber normal cells in leukemia.

Question 14

What are the six essential alterations that dictate malignant growth?

Answer 14

1) self-suficcieny of growth signals
2) insensitivity to growth-inhibitory signals
3) evasion of apoptosis
4) potential for limitless replication
5) angiogenesis
6) invasion and metasis

Question 15

In cancer cells, why do cells start to rapidly divide?

Answer 15

cells become unresponsive to normal growth controls.

Question 16

Explain the major features of cancer cells.

Answer 16

• large, variable shaped nuclei
• variation in shape and size
• disorganised arrangement
• loss of normal specialized features
• large number of dividing cells
• poorly defined oundris between cells

Question 17

What is the process called of the formation of a tumor?

Answer 17

tumorigenesis

Question 18

What are the three main steps of tumorigenesis?

Answer 18

1) initiation
2) promotion
3) progression

Question 19

What causes cancer cells to proliferate in response to external signals?

Answer 19

alterations in signal transduction pathways.

Question 20

What allows for unregulated cell growth?

Answer 20

mutations and alterations of the cell cycle.

Question 21

What is the name of normal cellular genes that contribute to cancer?

Answer 21

oncogenes

Question 22

How many oncogenes have been discovered?

Answer 22

around 100

Question 23

What is apoptosis?

Answer 23

the genetically regulated program to dispose cells.

Question 24

What is the growth of tumour mass dependent on?

Answer 24

• an increase in proliferation of tumour cells
• decrease in apoptotic rate

Question 25

What is autophagy?

Answer 25

It is the major cellular pathway for protein and organelle turnover. It is a mechanism for the delvery of cellular materials to lysosomes for degredation.

Question 26

What process helps maintain a balance between anabolism and catabolism for normal cell growth and development?

Answer 26

autophagy

Question 27

How is autophagy related to cancer?

Answer 27

involved in the elimination of cancer by triggering a non apoptotic cell death program (suggesting a negative role in tumour development.

Question 28

Is autophagy a possible cancer treatment?

Answer 28

yes

Question 29

What is a feature of malignant cells?

Answer 29

their ability to invade the surrounding normal tissue.

Question 30

What is in situ cancer?

Answer 30

tumours in which malignant cells appear to lie exclusively above the basement membrane

Question 31

What is invasive cancer?

Answer 31

tumours in which malignant cells are demonstrated to breach teh basement membrane, penetrating into the stroma.

Question 32

What does a cancers ability to invade involve?

Answer 32

changes in adhesion, initiation of motility and proteolysis of the extracellular matrix.

Question 33

What is angiogenesis?

Answer 33

the establishment of new blood vessels from a preexisting vascular bed. angiogenesis allows for tumour growth and metasis.

Question 34

What are the steps of metastasis?

Answer 34

1) primary cancer cells develop access through either the blood circulatory system or the lymphatic system 2) cancer cells are shed into the circulation 3) circulating cells lodge into a new organ and extravasate into the new tissue 4) cells must initiate growth and establish vascularization to sustain the new tumour.

Question 35

What is the name of the particular substances that are linked to specific types of cancers?

Answer 35

carcinogens

Question 36

State some carcinogen examples.

Answer 36

- tobacco - diet and excersize - infection (eg. epstein-Barr virus) - radiation (ultraviolet) - hereditary - hormones (insulin like growth hormones, (sex related cancers))

Question 37

How can cancer be managed?

Answer 37

- surgery - radiation therapy - chemotherapy - immunotherapy - targeted therapy - hormone therapy - stem cell transplant - precision medicine

Question 38

What is immunotherapy?

Answer 38

type of treatment that helps the immune system fight cancer.

Question 39

What is targeted therapy?

Answer 39

type of treatment that targets the changes in cancer cells that help them grow, divide and spread.

Question 40

What is hormone therapy?

Answer 40

type of treatment that slows or stops the growth of breast and prostate cancers that use hormones to grow.

Question 41

What is stem cell transplant?

Answer 41

procedures that restore blood-forming stem cells in cancer patients who have had their stem cells destroyed by very high doses of chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

Question 42

What is precision medicine?

Answer 42

helps doctors select treatments that are most likely to help patients based on genetic understanding of their disease.

Question 43

What measures prevent cancers?

Answer 43

- limited tobacco use - increased physical activity - controlled weight - improved diet - limited alcohol - safer sex practices - routine cancer screening tests - avoided excess exposure to the sun