Cancer Bio (Dan Lecture 1) Flashcards
What is a neoplasm?
A growth of new cells
What is a tumour?
A neoplasm forming a distinct lump
What are the 2 types of neoplasm?
Benign and malignant
Describe the tissue distribution of benign and malignant neoplasms
Benign neoplasms are localised
Malignant neoplasms have invaded surrounding tissues and may have spread to other organs or tissues by metastasis
What are the 6 acquired capabilities of cancer?
1) Evading growth suppresors
2) Activating invasion and metastasis
3) Enabling replicative immortality
4) Inducing angiogenesis (synthesis of new blood vessels)
5) Resisting apoptosis
6) Sustaining proliferative signalling
How many people will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime?
1 in 2 people born after 1960
How many new cases of cancer were there in the UK in 2014?
Approx 360,000
What percentage of cancer cases in the UK are linked to lifestyle?
42%
What are the 3 most common male cancers? (2014)
1) Prostate
2) Lung
3) Bowel
What are the 3 most common female cancers? (2014)
1) Breast
2) Lung
3) Bowel
How many people die each year from cancer?
160,000 (2014)
Deaths from lung, bowel, breast and prostate cancer account for what % of total cancer deaths each year?
Almost half (47%)
Which 3 cancers have the highest mortality in males? (2014)
1) Lung (23%)
2) Prostate (13%)
3) Bowel (10%)
Which 3 cancers have the highest mortality in females? (2014)
1) Lung (21%)
2) Breast (15%)
3) Bowel (10%)
How does cancer incidence correlate with age?
Approx 75% of cases diagnosed in people 60 and over
More than 1/3 of cases in people 75 and over
Children (0-14years), teenagers and young adults (15-24) make up less than 1% of all cases
Which cancers have the highest and lowest 5 year % survival?
High:
Tesitclular (98%)
Malignant melanoma (90%)
Low:
Lung (10%)
Pancreas (3%)
What are the 3 main current cancer treatments?
1) Surgery
2) Radiotherapy
3) Chemotherapy
What are the advantages and disadvantages of both radio and chemotherapy?
Radio:
- Effective for localised disease
- Relatively expensive (1 machine costs approx 1 million pounds)
Chemo:
- Relatively ineffective for most cancers
- However, can be used to treat metastatic disease
- Cost can be low or high depending on drug use and amount of side effects
What are the main causes of cancer?
- Smoking
- Diet (?)
- Viruses (e.g. HPV)
- Environmental factors/pollutants
- Hormones
- Ionizing radiation
- UV radiation
- Genetic predispositon
Increasing the number of cigarettes consumed increases the risk of what cancer?
Lung
What percentage of cancer deaths are due to smoking?
30%
What can be done to reduce the risk of cancer?
- Stop smoking
- Eat less fat and more fruit and veg
- Avoid excessive exposure to sun
- Drink less or no alcohol
- Have lots of children but be monogamous
- Avoid exposure to carcinogens (chimneysweep)
What are the characteristics of benign tumours?
- Grow slowly
- Remains localised
How are benign tumours normally treated?
Simple surgical excision
What are the characteristics of malignant tumours?
- Grow rapidly
- Invade and destroy adjacent tissues
- Potential to metastasise (spread to distant parts of the body by the blood, lymphatic system or across serous membrane)
What is histological classification of neoplasia used to determine?
The tissue or organ of origin of the neoplasm
- Neoplasms resemble their tissue or organ of origin
What are the major tissue types of the body?
- Epithelium (skin, lining of GI and urinary tract, and solid abdomial organs e.g. liver, kidney, pancreas)
- Connective tissue (muscle, fat, bone, cartilage, nerves, blood vessels)
- Lymphoid and blood forming tissues (lymph noses, spleen, bone marrow, thymus)
- CNS
- Germ cells (testis and ovaries)
What are malignant epithelial tumours called?
Carcinomas
What are malignant connective tissue tumours called?
Sarcomas
What is hyperplasia?
- A ‘pre-malignant’ disease
- Increase in the number of cells in an organ or tissue in response to a stimulus
- Regresses when stimulus is removed
What is dysplasia?
- ‘Pre-malignant’ disease
- Change in cells (usually epithelium) characterised by disorderly growth and morphologic changes in cell nuclei
What are the 2 types of epithelial tissue in the female breast?
1) the lobules
2) the ducts
What do the lobules and the ducts do?
- In non pregnant women the lobules are in resting phase
- Pregnant women lobules are expanded and secrete milk
- Ducts convey milk to the nipple
What are the 2 types of connective tissue in the female breast?
1) Loose fibrous connective tissue present in lobules
2) Denser fibrous connective tissue present in extralobular sites to provide structural support
The majority of breast cancers are of what origin?
Epithelial (carcinoma)
What are the 2 types of breast carcinomas?
Ductal or Lobular
What are the 5 stages of Ductal Carcinoma formation?
1) Normal duct
2) Intraductal hyperplasia
3) Intraductal hyperplasia with atypia
4) Ductal carcinoma in situ
5) Invasive ductal cancer
Invasive disease is when cells break through basement membrane and invade the fat and connective tissue
What does TNM stand for in the TNM system of cancer staging
T = tumour N = node M = metastasis
What are the T stages of the TNM system in staging breast cancer?
Tis - carcinoma in situ
T1 - Tumour size less than 2cm in diameter
T2 - Tumour size between 2-5cm
T3 - Tumour above 5cm in diameter
T4 - tumour of any size involving chest wall or skin
What are the N stages of the TNM system in staging breast cancer?
N0 - No axillary node involvment
N1 - Metastases to axillary nodes that are freely mobile
N2 - Metastases to fixed axillary nodes
N3 - Metastases to intermal mammary nodes
What are the M stages of the TNM system in staging breast cancer?
M0 - No metastases outside of local nodes
M1 - Metastases present
How would a 6.2cm breast carcimona with fixed axillary node involvement and no metastases be staged?
T3 N2 M0 carcinoma
