Basic Pathological Mechanisms April 20-24 Flashcards
Describe G1 phase.
Organelles are duplicated; cell growth (duplication of the cytoplasm)
Describe G2 phase.
pause to check the integrity of the reproduced genome
What is the key grow and divide pathway?
growth factors (TGFalpha); MEK/MAPK
What is the key don’t die pathway?
survival factors (IGF1); AKT/NFkappaB
What is the key don’t grow and don’t divide pathway?
anti-growth factors (TGFbeta); Smad/cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor
What is the key die pathway?
3: cytochrome C, FasL, and p53
REVIEW: What are adult labile cells?
intestinal epithelial, skin epithelial, breast ducts, uterine epithelial cells, fibroblasts, leukocytes, and myelocytes
What are the two best known gatekeepers (tumor suppressors)?
p53 and pRb; control cellular responses to damage (eliminates or arrests cells with mutations)
What is the role of cyclin/CDK complexes?
phosphorylate and inactivate Rb, allowing the cell cycle to proceed
Rb dissociates from E2F
Name CDK inhibitors.
p16INK4A, p21, p27, and p57
How is the cell cycle of cancer cells different from normal cells?
can divide without appropriate external signals; do not exhibit contact inhibition; can divide by ignoring checkpoints
Describe steps of cancer development?
Transformation (gain of oncogenes and loss of tumor suppressors; rate limiting step); tumor expansion and evolution
Describe the Knudson hypothesis.
Alfred Knudson proposed a “two hit” hypothesis suggesting the development of retinoblastoma required two mutations in the same gene in the same cell to occur.
He predicted that one of these mutations was inherited in the germline of patients that develop Retinoblastoma at an early age
What are clinical features of Retinoblastoma?
thickening of optic nerve and displacement of retina
What are common alterations in Rb pathway during cancer development?
methylation or mutation of Rb; sequestration of pRb by viral proteins; overexpression of cyclins; mutation in CKIs; (loss of f(x)); mutation in cyclin-dependent kinases (gain of f(x))
T/F: high total cyclin E levels suggest poor prognosis?
T; high in the aggressive basal-like breast cancer subtype
Describe discovery of p53.
co-precipitated with SV40 virus large T antigen (originally classified as oncogenic; mutated)
Describe p53?
stop transmission of damage or mutated DNA to daughter cells
DNA damage induces accumulation of the p53 protein
induces cell cycle arrest as a transcription factor for p21
upregulates its own expression following DNA damage
Describe the p53-Mdm2 autoregulatory
feedback loop.
The mdm-2 gene is shown here to contain a p53 DNA-binding site and a genetically responsive element such that expression of the mdm-2 gene can be regulated by the level of wild-type p53 protein. The mdm-2 protein, in turn, can complex with p53 and decrease its ability to act as a positive transcription factor at the mdm-2 gene-responsive element. In this way, the mdm-2 gene is autoregulated. The p53 protein regulates the mdm-2 gene at the level of transcription, and the mdm-2 protein regulates the p53 protein at the level of its activity. This creates a feedback loop that regulates both the activity of the p53 protein and the expression of the mdm-2 gene.
How can E2F activate p53?
p14ARF inhibits mdm2, thus promoting p53, which promotes p21 activation, which then binds and inactivates certain cyclin-CDK complexes, which would otherwise promote transcription of genes that would carry the cell through the G1/S checkpoint of the cell cycle
How can extracellular signals impact p53-p21-Rb axis?
PI3K/AKT pathway upregulates mdm2 (inhibiting p53 and p21 and upregulates CDK-cyclin complexes and releases E2F for modulation of S-phase)
What are the two most frequently mutated genes in human tumors?
p53 (point) and INK4a (frameshift)
Where are most mutations in p53 found on the locus?
DNA binding domain
Describe Li Fraumeni syndrome.
linked to germline mutation in p53; Characterized by multiple primary neoplasms in children and young adults
T/F: positive IHC staining for p53 in a tumor suggests that the p53 gene has been mutated?
T