Breast Cancer Day 1

Question 1

Molecular subtypes of breast cancer

Answer 1

ER, HER2 and PR

Question 2

How can you test for different molecular types of breast cancer?

Answer 2

biopsy stain for the receptors

Question 3

Which molecular type of breast cancer can you not use hormone therapy for?

Answer 3

triple negative

Question 4

allostatic load

Answer 4

the cumulative burden of chronic stress and life events

Question 5

When are there double the number of chromosomes in a cell?

Answer 5

after the S phase

in G2

Question 6

What is a cyclin?

Answer 6

proteins that signal cell to move through phases of cell cycle

Question 7

PI3K

Answer 7

a downstream product of EGF

Question 8

EGF

Answer 8

epidermal growth factor

Question 9

Piqray

Answer 9

a drug that prevents PI3K from working, thus effectively turning off EGF pathway

Question 10

When do you use fulvestrant?

Answer 10

use in ER + tumors that are resistant to endocrine therapy

Question 11

p53

Answer 11

major regulator of DNA damage (can trigger apoptosis)

tumor supressor gene

Question 12

HER2

Answer 12

proto-oncogene

can get amplified and have uncontrolled cell growth

Question 13

What does an allele frequency of 50% indicate?

Answer 13

germline mutation is likely

Question 14

What does an allele frequency of <50% indicate?

Answer 14

somatic mutation

Question 15

BRCA 1/2 mechanism of action (MOA)

Answer 15

tumor supressor gene

DNA double-strand break repair by homologous recombination

Question 16

What else can a BRCA 1/2 mutation be associated with?

Answer 16

fanconi anemia

Question 17

APC

Answer 17

tumor supressor gene

regulates mitotic spindle and transcriptional licensing factor B-catenin / WNT signaling

Question 18

MEN2 mutations are a hallmark of what cancer?

Answer 18

medullary thyroid carcinoma

Question 19

What type of gene is MEN2?

Answer 19

proto-oncogene

encodes receptor tyrosine kinase

Question 20

VHL is commonly associated with what cancer?

Answer 20

clear cell renal cancer

retinal angioma

hemangioblastoma

Question 21

VHL is what type of gene?

Answer 21

tumor suppressor gene

component of ubiquitination complex

Question 22

Lynch syndrome (MLH1/MSH2/MSH6…)

Answer 22

mis-matched repair

associated with microsatellite instablility

Question 23

RB1

Answer 23

tumor supressor gene

cell cycle regulation (G1/S transition)

Question 24

Ras pathway

Answer 24

becomes activated when GDP is phorsphorylated to GTP

leads to activation of RAF kinases

RAF kinase -> MEKs -> MAP kinase

Question 25

What happens after MAP kinase activation?

Answer 25

activation of transcription factors involved in cell cycle progression, growth and proliferation

Question 26

What happens when histones are acetylated?

Answer 26

electrostatic attraction with DNA becomes weakened

more transcription happens

Question 27

p53 and histone acetylation

Answer 27

p53 = tumor suppressor gene

therefore, p53 prevents histone acetylation and increases in transcription