Cancer

Question 1

What is cancer

Answer 1

Question 2

What is genomic instability

Answer 2

Lots of mutations

Question 3

Why isn’t cell division in a tumour completely uncontrollable

Answer 3

Question 4

How do cancer cells invade

Answer 4

Question 5

What is metastasis and describe the process of metastasis

Answer 5

Question 6

What do tumours rely on

Answer 6

Question 7

What are the 2 types of tumours

Answer 7

Question 8

What are the different types of cancer

Answer 8

Question 9

What are the causes of cancer

Answer 9

Question 10

How can genetic change cause cancer

Answer 10

Question 11

What are the different types of mutations

Answer 11

Question 12

What is the link between cancer and age

Answer 12

Question 13

What is meant by the clonal origin of cancer

Answer 13

Question 14

What is the structure of a retrovirus

Answer 14

Question 15

What do retroviral oncogenes do

Answer 15

Question 16

What does E7 do in HPV

Answer 16

Question 17

What does E6 do

Answer 17

Question 18

What does p53 do

Answer 18

Question 19

What is E6 and E7

Answer 19

Viral oncoproteins

They bind to Rb and p53, inhibiting them

Question 20

What are the 2 types of cancer causing mutations

Answer 20

Question 21

What is an oncogene

Answer 21

an oncogene is a mutated gene which could cause cancer by causing the cell to divide uncontrollably
• Before an oncogene becomes mutated its called a proto-oncogene

Question 22

What is a proto- oncogene

Answer 22

• Proto-oncogene regulates normal cell division
• Proto oncogenes code for proteins that stimulate cell growth and division

Question 23

What happens if p53 is inhibited

Answer 23

The mutated cell can’t be apoptosed or undergo cell cycle arrest
Therefore the mutated cell can divide which could lead to the development of a tumour

Question 24

What happens if Rb is inactivated

Answer 24

• Inactivating Rb increases cell division as Rb wont be able to bind to E2F

Question 25

How do retroviruses work

Answer 25

• when it infects a cell its RNA is converted to DNA via reverse transcription
• The viral DNA is then inserted into the hosts genome where it can be inherited by daughter cells when the infected cell dies

Question 26

What is v-src

Answer 26

v-Src in the viral DNA is an oncogene which causes the infected cell to become cancerous

Question 27

What does v-Ras do

Answer 27

• an oncogene called v-Ras can cause tumours
• It was derived by a mutation from a normal human gene, from a family of proto-oncogenes called Ras
• the Ras oncogenes from an tumours contain point mutations which created a hyperactive Ras protein that can’t hydrolyse its bound GTP to GDP - this makes the effect of the Ras protein dominant (only one mutated allele is needed for this to occur)

Question 28

What does a tumour suppressor gene do

Answer 28

Inhibit cell division and tumour development

Question 29

What happens if a tumour suppressor gene is mutated

Answer 29

A mutated tumour suppressor gene - the protein is codes for isn’t produce or doesn’t work properly which could lead to uncontrolled cell division as the protein it codes for is used to stop cell division/ regulate it
E.g is p53