Alberts, Ch 20 - Cancer

Question 1

Tumor suppressor gene

Answer 1

Gene that appears to help prevent formation of a cancer, loss-of-function mutations in such genes favor development of cancer

Question 2

Tumor progression

Answer 2

Process by which an initial mildly disordered cell behavior gradually evolves into full-blown cancer

Question 3

Transformed

Answer 3

Cell with an altered phenotype that behaves in many ways like a cancer cell

Question 4

Stroma

Answer 4

Connective tissue in which glandular or other epithelium is embedded, stromal cells provide the necessary environment for development of other cells within tissues

Question 5

Somatic mutation

Answer 5

In cancer one or more detectable abnormalities in DNA sequence of tumor cells that distinguish them from normal somatic cells surrounding the tumor

Question 6

Sarcoma

Answer 6

Cancer of connective tissue

Question 7

Retrovirus

Answer 7

RNA-containing virus that replicates in a cell by first making an RNA-DNA intermediate and then a double-strand DNA molecule that becomes integrated into cell’s DNA

Question 8

Retinoblastoma

Answer 8

Rare type of human cancer arising from cells in the retina of the eye that are converted to a cancerous state by unusually small number of mutations, studies of these cancers led to discovery of first tumor suppressor gene

Question 9

Rb protein

Answer 9

Tumor suppressor proein involved in regulation of cell division, mutated in retinoblastoma and other tumors, normally regulates cell cycle by inhibiting E2F proteins and blocking progression into DNA replication and cell division

Question 10

Rb gene

Answer 10

Gene that is defective in both copies in individuals with retinoblastoma, protein product plays central role in cell-cycle control

Question 11

Proto-oncogene

Answer 11

Normal gene, usually concerned with the regulation of cell proliferation, can be converted into a cancer-promoting oncogene by mutation

Question 12

Primary tumor

Answer 12

Tumor at the original site at which cancer first arose, secondary tumors develop elsewhere by metastasis

Question 13

Passenger

Answer 13

Mutations that have occurred in the same cell as driver mutations but which are irrelevant to development of the cancer

Question 14

Papillomavirus

Answer 14

Class of viruses responsible for human warts and a prime example of DNA tumor viruses, cause cancer of uterine cervix

Question 15

Oncogene

Answer 15

Altered gene whose product can act in dominant fashion to help make a cell cancerous, typically a mutant form of normal gene involved in control of cell growth or division

Question 16

Multidrug resistance

Answer 16

Observed phenomenon in which cells exposed to one anticancer drug evolve a resistance not only to that drug but also to other drugs to which they have never been exposed

Question 17

Metastasis

Answer 17

Spread of cancer cells from their site of origin to other sites in the body

Question 18

Metastases

Answer 18

Secondary tumors at sites in the body additional to that of primary tumor, resulting from cancer cells breaking loose, entering blood stream or lymphatic vessels and colonizing separate environments

Question 19

Malignant

Answer 19

Tumor cell that is invasive and/or able to undergo metastasis, cancer

Question 20

Lymphoma

Answer 20

Cancer of lymphocytes, cancer cells mainly found in lymphoid organs

Question 21

Leukemia

Answer 21

Cancer of white blood cells

Question 22

HPV

Answer 22

Human papillomavirus, infects cervical epithelium and is important as a cause of carcinoma of uterine cervix

Question 23

Drivers

Answer 23

Mutations that are causal factors in the development of cancer

Question 24

DNA tumor virus

Answer 24

General term for a variety of different DNA viruses that can cause tumors

Question 25

Colorectal cancer

Answer 25

Cancer arising from epithelium lining the colon and rectum

Question 26

Chemical carcinogens

Answer 26

Disparate chemical that are carcinogenic when fed to experimental animals or painted repeatedly on their skin

Question 27

Carcinoma

Answer 27

Cancer of epithelial cells, most common form of human cancer

Question 28

Carcinogenesis

Answer 28

Generation of cancer

Question 29

Cancer-critical genes

Answer 29

Genes whose alteration contributes to causation or evolution of cancer by driving tumorigenesis

Question 30

Cancer stem cell

Answer 30

Rare cancer cells capable of dividing indefinetely

Question 31

Benign

Answer 31

Tumor that is self-limiting in growth and noninvasive

Question 32

Tumor virus

Answer 32

Virus that can help make the cell it infects cancerous