7. Cancer Unravelled

Question 1

what type of breast cancer is suited to personalised treatment

Answer 1

HER2-positive breast cancers may benefit from targeted therapies, such as Herceptin.

Question 2

staining levels of HER2 protein overexpression

Answer 2

staining helps to determine whether the cancer is HER2 positive which can influence treatment decisions

0 - 20,000 receptors per cell

1+ 100,000 receptors per cell

2+ 500,000 receptors per cell

3= 1-2 million receptors per cell

Question 3

Irish heroes in cancer research

Answer 3

Dr. Mary Patricia “Moya” Cole - published co-authorship of the first clinical paper on tamoxifen

Denis Burkitt - first person to identify a cancer caused by the environment

Question 4

what was a hidden challenge in the journey to developing the human genome

Answer 4

the environment can to some extent modify the DNA genetic code that we have inherited via epigenetic modification

Question 5

epigenetic differences arise during the lifetime of monozygotic twins

Answer 5

they have the same genome but are not identical due to their environment

Question 6

what do mRNA expression rays allow us to do

Answer 6

look at thousands of genes at the one time

Question 7

what percentage of breast cancers are triple negative

Answer 7

15%

Question 8

other info about triple negative breast cancer

Answer 8

• typically large tumors
• tends to affect young women
• BRACCA 1 or BRACCA 2

Question 9

how does immunotherapy work

Answer 9

immunotherapy drugs can block tumor cells from deactivating T cells