Cancer Flashcards
What is cancer?
It is an uncontrolled and unregulated growth of cells
What are the three causes of cancer?
Patient’s behavior
Environement
Genetics
What is epigenetics?
Gene expression determined by environmental factors
What are stem cells?
Cells that can divide for indefinite periods
What are the two types of stem cells?
Embryonic and adult
What are the difference between embryonic and adult stem cells?
Embryonic stem cells are:
Differentiated
Unspecified
Adult stem cells are:
Undifferentiated
Specific
Their role is to repair/replace damaged cells
Define Atrophy
Decrease in SIZE of cell
Happens in people who don’t uses their muscles
Define Hypertrophy
Increase in SIZE of cell
Cardiac muscle, weight lifters
Define hyperplasia
Increase in the NUMBER of cells due to increase in cell division
Think pyramiding
Define metaplasia
Reversible cell replacement
Ex. Smoker’s lung cells will change cell type and replace damaged cells but doesn’t do the same job
Define dysplasia
Increase in the degree of disordered cell growth
Reversible
Ex. Abnormal pap smear
Define Neoplasia
Uncontrolled growth
Not reversible
What is multipotent?
The differentiation of an adult stem cell
Ex. Bone marrow cells
What is contact inhibition?
Cancer cells that don’t respect boundaries of surrounding cells.
Invasive and grow on top of one another and on top of each other
What are protooncogenes?
Genes that normally help cells grow
Ex. In cancer this is disturbed
What are Oncogenes?
Gene with a mutation in it, makes abnormal copies, and is activated continuously
What are tumor suppressor genes?
Genes that prevent cells from going through the cell cycle
Suppress or block development of cancer
What are the three stages of cancer development?
Initiation Phase
Promotion Phase
Progression Phase
What happens in the initiation phase of cancer?
Mutation occurs altering cellular DNA
What happens in the promotion phase of cancer?
Reversible proliferation of altered cells. There has been no binding to DNA yet.
What happens in the progression phase of cancer?
Increased growth rate and invasiveness
What are the manifestation of cancer?
It is individualized. It depends on the type of cancer and patients must know their normal body functioning
What is the only definitive test to diagnose cancer?
Biopsy
What is angiogenesis?
The tumor grows and can metastasize because of the access to blood
