lecture 8/tutorial 10 - lung cancer Flashcards
What are some of the risk factors for lung cancer?
Cigarette smoking/second hand smoke, radon gas, asbestos, genetics
What are the 2 key types of lung cancer?
Small cell carcinoma, non-small cell carcinoma
What type of lung cancer accounts for 15 % of cases but is highly malignant?
Small cell carcinoma
What type of lung cancer accounts for 85% of cases but is only moderately malignant?
Non-small cell carcinoma
What are the 3 sub-types of non-small cell lung carcinoma?
Large cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma
What is transformation, in terms of cancer development?
A genetic mutation or epigenetic event that alters mechanisms that control cell growth, proliferation or survival.
What are some of the mechanisms that malignant cells must evade/adapt to to survive?
become insensitive to growth-inhibitory signals, evade apoptosis, sustain angiogenesis, avoid immune cell destruction
What is the term for a benign mesenchymal tumor of fibroblasts?
Fibroma
What is the term for a benign mesenchymal tumor of cartilage cells?
Chondroma
What is the term for a benign mesenchymal tumor of fat cells?
lipoma
What is the term for a benign mesenchymal tumor of osteoblasts?
Osteoma
What is the term for a benign epithelial tumor of glands?
Adenoma
What is the term for a benign epithelial tumor forming a projection on a mucosal surface?
Polyp
What is the term for a benign epithelial tumor with finger-like projections from the epithelial surface?
Papilloma
What is the term for a malignant mesenchymal tumor?
Sarcoma
What is the term for a malignant epithelial tumor?
Carcinoma
What is a teratoma?
A tumor that contains tissues from multiple embryonic germ cell types and arises in the ovaries or testes.
How can differentiation be used to determine the difference between a benign and malignant tumor?
Benign tumors are well differentiation and malignant tumors are anaplastic/poorly differentiated.
What are some of the morphological hallmarks of cellular anaplasia?
- pleomorphism (cells all have different shapes)
- hyperchromatic nuclei
- prominent nucleoli
- mitoses (actively proliferating cells)
- tumor giant cells
What is a low grade tumor?
A well differentiated, less aggressive tumor
What is a high grade tumour?
A poorly differentiated, aggressive tumor
What is a carcinoma insitu?
When there is high grade dysplasia affected the entire thickness of an area of epithelium, but the invasion has not yet invaded through the basement membrane
What is the difference between benign and malignant tumors in terms of their rate of growth?
Benign tumors grow more slowly that malignant tumors.
What process will immediately mark a tumor as malignant not benign?
Metastasis