2 Cancer and Environmental Factors

Question 1

Suggest some evidence supporting the notion that the envrionment is more important or cancer development than genetics

Answer 1

Japanese stomach cancer rates are up to 6x higher than americans

2nd generation immigrants have the same stomach cancer rates as native americans

Question 2

What did Sir Richard Doll and Sir Richard Peto conclude?

Answer 2

75-80% of cancers in US in 1970 could have been avoided

Question 3

IN 2015 UK, what factor was attributed to be the leading cause of cancer?

Answer 3

tobacco

Question 4

What are the classificaitons of carcinogens?

Answer 4

group 1
group 2A
group 2B
group 3A
group 4

Question 5

What are the classifications of carcinogens based on?

Answer 5

probability, and possibility of causing cancer

provided by the international agency fro research on cancer

Question 6

How might you assess the risk of exposure?

Answer 6

potency
type of exposure
dose response

Question 7

What is potency?

Answer 7

potential of a given amount of of a substance to cause cancer

Question 8

What is dose repsonse?

Answer 8

describes how cancer rissk change with exposure levels

Question 9

What comprises air pollution?

Answer 9

OM
NO2
SO2
Ozone gas
CO
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

Question 10

What types of PM are there?

Answer 10

inorganic
organic
biological

Question 11

What assessment produces annual reports classifying components of air pollution as carcinogens?

Answer 11

IARC Hazard Assessments

Question 12

what are the cellular hallmarks of carcinogenic effect?

Answer 12

sustained proliferative signalling
cell death resistance
angiogenesis induction
activation of invasion and metastasis
inflammation
genome instability

Question 13

How does nicotine addiction cause cancer?

Answer 13

chronic exposure to carcinogens
may be metabolically actiavated to form intermmediates, which can react with DNA to form DNA adducts

DNA adducts persist in DNA acting as permanent mutations

Question 14

When might DNA adducts be particularly problematic?

Answer 14

if in specific regions like Ras or Mic oncogenes

or B53 TS genes

Question 15

How can the cell evade teh effects of carcinogens?

Answer 15

metabolic detoxification of carcinogens to harmless products
DNA repair
apoptosis

Question 16

The relative risk of contracting which diseases are increased with smoking?

Answer 16

chronic lung disease
lung cancer
coronary heart disease
cerebrovascular disease

Question 17

“The 21st century hazards of smoking and benefits of stopping: a prospective study of one million women in the UK”

what was found?

Answer 17

2/3 of all deaths of smokers in their 50s, 60s, and 70s are caused by smoking

smokers lose at least 10 years of lifespan

Question 18

What 2 oragnisaitons evaluate evidence and produce reports on diet and cancer?

Answer 18

IARC (international agency for research on cancer)

AICR (american institute of cancer research)

Question 19

What is HEI?

Answer 19

healthy eating index

Question 20

What is MDS?

Answer 20

mediterranean diet score

Question 21

What is DASH?

Answer 21

dietary approaches to stop hypertension

Question 22

What is HNFI?

Answer 22

healthy Nordic food index

Question 23

What proportion of cancers in the UK (2010) is attributable to deviation from the recommended intake levels?

Answer 23

2.7%

Question 24

What type of carcinogen is processed meat?

Answer 24

group 1

Question 25

What type of carcinogen is red meat?

Answer 25

group 2A

Question 26

What are low fibre diets linked to?

Answer 26

increased bowel cancer

Question 27

Why is dietary fibre beneficial?

Answer 27

linked to bacterial fermentation producing wooterate, suppressing the growth of colorectal cancer cells

Question 28

What is wooterate?

Answer 28

shot chain fatty acid and histone deacetylase inhibitor

Question 29

What is the latency time between being overwight and obese, and cancer risk?

Answer 29

about 10 years

Question 30

why is obesity so bad?

Answer 30

it promotes primary tumour growth and metastatic progression

Question 31

Why does inflammation increase cancer risk in obese patients?

Answer 31

attracts myeloid cells
drives release of IL-1B cytokine
increased signalling in cancer cells
increases adipocytes

Question 32

How does increased stroma fibroblast concentration increase cancer risk in obese patients?

Answer 32

stiffens the ECM

promotes cacner cell growth and migratory qualities

Question 33

How might adipocytes increase cancer risk?

Answer 33

produce VGEF-a

increases tumour angiogenesis providing the basis of metastasis

Question 34

What surrounds necrocytic macrophage in inflammation obesity?

Answer 34

macrophage

form crown - like structures (CLS)

Question 35

How obesity effect activity of NF-kB transcription facor?

Answer 35

increases it

Question 36

How does obesity effect aromatase expression?

Answer 36

increases it

Question 37

What is the role of physical acitvity in cancer prevention?

Answer 37

reduces risk of developing cancer
increases survival post-diagnosis
reduces recurrence

Question 38

What is the relationship between breast cancer and physical activity?

Answer 38

Breast cancer is inversely associated with level of physical activity

reduces estrogen, insulin, and inflammation levels

Question 39

What sort of cancer has a strong link to asbestos inhalation?

Answer 39

pleural mesothelioma

Question 40

What cancer are japanese atomic bomb survivors susceptible to?

Answer 40

leukaemia

Question 41

What cancer are underground miners susceptible to, and why?

Answer 41

lung cancer

radon

Question 42

What cancer are radiologists susceptible to ?

Answer 42

skin cancer

Question 43

What cancer are luminous dial painters usceptible to and why?

Answer 43

bone cancer

radium

Question 44

What challenges are there to studies of diet and lifestyle factors?

Answer 44

complex set of exposures

evaluatio of risk factors associated with lifestyle and diet

Question 45

What proportion of cancer cases each year in the UK are linked to a combination of 14 major lifestyle and other major factors?

Answer 45

42%