Cancer Flashcards
What is cancer
What is genomic instability
Lots of mutations
Why isn’t cell division in a tumour completely uncontrollable
How do cancer cells invade
What is metastasis and describe the process of metastasis
What do tumours rely on
What are the 2 types of tumours
What are the different types of cancer
What are the causes of cancer
How can genetic change cause cancer
What are the different types of mutations
What is the link between cancer and age
What is meant by the clonal origin of cancer
What is the structure of a retrovirus
What do retroviral oncogenes do
What does E7 do in HPV
What does E6 do
What does p53 do
What is E6 and E7
Viral oncoproteins
They bind to Rb and p53, inhibiting them
What are the 2 types of cancer causing mutations
What is an oncogene
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
What is a proto- oncogene
• Proto-oncogene regulates normal cell division
• Proto oncogenes code for proteins that stimulate cell growth and division
What happens if p53 is inhibited
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
What happens if Rb is inactivated
• Inactivating Rb increases cell division as Rb wont be able to bind to E2F
How do retroviruses work
• 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
What is v-src
v-Src in the viral DNA is an oncogene which causes the infected cell to become cancerous
What does v-Ras do
• 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)
What does a tumour suppressor gene do
Inhibit cell division and tumour development
What happens if a tumour suppressor gene is mutated
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
