2. cell cycle Flashcards
what are three types of systems that can be used for cancer research?
- people
- animal models
- cell based systems
how can people be used for cancer research?
epidemiology, autopsy, genetics, GWAS
what can epidemiology show us about cancer?
making connections between the population and causative agents of the disease - most connections have now been made
what can GWAS show us about cancer?
they can link certain alleles with a pre-disposition to developing cancer
what can autopsies show us about cancer?
look and see how the disease progressed from early to late stage in corpses
how are animal models useful in cancer research?
they are good for identifying key players that can be extrapolated back to human cancer progression
how are cell based systems a powerful tool?
they give us information at the biochemical level of different disease setting and identify what affects this
what is required in order to view cancer progression?
a full animal system
name one process that it is not fully possible to study in a cell systems?
metastasis - you can look at migration but you cannot see how it migrates and ends up at a distal location
name 4 different types of cells that can be used as in vitro models of cancer
- primary cells
- immortalised cells
- transformed cells
- metastatic cells
what type of cells are the closet we can get to the WT setting when using cells as in vitro models of cancer?
primary cells, these are obtained directly from the organism
what are the downsides of using primary cells? (3)
- they have limited lifespan
- they don’t divide much
- there is lots of variation in primary cells
what three types of cells can grow indefinitely in culture?
- immortalised cells
- transformed cells
- metastatic cells
give an example of immortalised cells? and what can be done to them?
Swiss 3T3 cells - you can transform these cells by the addition of an oncogene
what are three properties of immortalised cells?
- they are growth factor dependent
- they are anchorage dependent
- they are contact inhibited
out of the three cell types that can grow indefinitely in culture, which are the most similar to the WT setting?
immortalised cells
what type of WT cells are not anchorage dependent?
blood cells
what is anchorage dependence?
when cells need tissue culture plastic as substrate to proliferate
what is contact inhibition?
once cell to cell contact is obtained and a monolayer has formed, cells stop proliferating
if a cell is not contact inhibited what occurs?
they proliferate out of the monolayer of the dish
give an example of a transformed cell
K-Ras 3T3
give four properties of transformed cells in virto?
- substrate independent
- contact independent
- reduced growth factor dependence
when transformed cells are injected into nude mice what are they?
tumorigenic
give an example of metastatic cells?
HeLa cells - from late stage metastatic cervical carcinoma
when were HeLa cells isolated?
in the 60s
in addition to the properties of transformed cells, what property do metastatic cells also have?
they are able to metastasise - can form colonies at different locations
how can you study the effect a gene has on anchorage dependence?
take Swiss T3T cells, insert gene of interest and see what affect this has on anchorage dependence i.e. can it now grow in solution
what does a focus formation assay look at?
contact inhibition
what can be deduced from the focus formation assay?
cells that grow out of the monolayer are not contact inhibited
what does the soft agar assay look at?
substrate dependence
what can be deduced from the soft agar assay?
cells that can grow in suspension in slightly solidified agar are not substrate dependent
what two things can be assed when cells are injected into mice?
- tumourogenesis
- metastasis
what is the gold standard for being able to determine whether you are looking at a tumour suppresser or oncogene?
being able to define all the players in a system to determine exactly what is happening
oncogenes promote and tumour suppressers prevent what 6 things?
- substrate independence
- transformed appearance
- release from contact inhibition
- reduced growth factor requirement
- tumour formation in nude mice
- genetic instability
if a single cells is given unlimited ability to proliferate in 40 days, what size will it become? why does this not occur in tumour formation?
cubic metre
cells are limited by nutrients, space and oxygen availability
what has been reported in clinically obese people?
tumour up to a meter in size, that have been hidden by padding and so given lots of time to grow
what are the 4 stages of the cell cycle?
G1, S, G2 and M
what happens in G1 phase?
the cell decides whether to go through the cell cycle or not
why is it bad to only go part the way through the cell cycle?
gene imbalance will arise from partially replicated genome