Cancer Flashcards
What are cancerous cells?
Cells that can divide rapidly and uncontrollably forming a tumour
What is a tumour?
An abnormal mass of cells
What causes rapid division?
A change in the base sequence of a gene known as a mutation
Since mutations don’t lead to cancer most of the time, what is the mutated gene called that causes cancer?
Oncogene
What can mutations lead to?
Early cell death or being destroyed by body’s immune system , because they can be easily replaced
What happens when a mutation results in cancer?
Doesn’t result in cell death so the mutations can be passed down generations
What are carcinogens?
Agents that might causes cancer by increasing the rate of mitosis
Carcinogen examples
•Tar in tobacco
•X-rays
•UV light
•Asbestos
What does carcinogenic?
An agent that causes cancer
What does benign mean?
Tumours that don’t spread and don’t cause cancer
What does malignant mean?
Tumours that spread, invade and destroy cells. As well as causing cancer
What mutated gene do cancer patients possess?
p53, which helps to control cell growth
Why is there no single effective treatment for cancer?
Many different causes for divisions
How does adriamycin work to treat cancer?
Stops DNA unwinding + interferes with DNA replication
How does methotrexate work to treat cancer?
Inhibits DNA nucleotide synthesis
How does vincristine and taxol?
Prevent mitotic spindle formation
Side effect of cancer drugs
The drugs work on normal body cells, but have a greater impact on rapidly dividing cells
