Cancer intro

Question 1

epistatic

Answer 1

only one lesion per pathway required to acquire cancer

Question 2

4 ways to dysregulate cellular process in cancer

Answer 2

inappropriate proliferation, resist differentiation and apoptosis, genomic instability, grow where it shouldnt

Question 3

viral oncogene

Answer 3

viral genes capable of altering cells

Question 4

cellular oncogene

Answer 4

genes involved in development or maintenance of malignant phenotype

Question 5

protooncogene

Answer 5

conserved eurkaryotic genes, can become oncogenes with changes in expression or mutation

Question 6

what are 4 oncogenic mechanisms

Answer 6

growth factors, signal transduction, cell cycle control, regulation of gene xpression

Question 7

2 common growth factors related to cancer

Answer 7

TGF-alpha w/ ras mutation and PDGF, PDGF-R w/ sis viral oncogene

Question 8

2 important tumor suppressor genes

Answer 8

p53 and p16(INK4a)

Question 9

Li-fraumeni syndrome

Answer 9

hereditary predisposition to cancer from p53 mutation, affected pts born w/ one abnormal copy- tumors will have mutations at both alleles

Question 10

Cdk4 (cyclin D) effect on cell proliferation

Answer 10

blocks retinoblastoma, which inhibits cell cycle-high in lymphomas and breast cancer

Question 11

p53 mutation effect on cell proliferation

Answer 11

p53 stimulates retinoblastoma which in turn inhibits cell cycle- losing p53 loses inhibition

Question 12

pRB mutation effect on cell cycle

Answer 12

pRB is inhibitor, loss causes loss of inhibition and greater cell proliferation

Question 13

p16 mutation effect on cell cycle

Answer 13

p16 blocks cyclin D which in turn blocks pRB which inhibits cell cycle- long chain but w/o p16= more cyclin d= less pRB=more cell division

Question 14

p53 role in apoptosis

Answer 14

promotes this process, when mutated cells become resistant to apoptosis

Question 15

what are some things a tumor must to do metastasize and cause harm

Answer 15

• locally invade
• grow into lymphatics/ blood vessels
• spread to other sites
• attach to endothelium
• grow and destroy normal stroma in new home
• induce new blood vessels

Question 16

what are some mutations involved in colon cancer progression?

Answer 16

FAP- familial adenomatous polyposis, RAS- protooncogene, DCC- tumor suppressor deleted in colon cancer

Question 17

mutations involved in pancreatic cancer

Answer 17

K-ras, p16, p53

Question 18

hyperplasia

Answer 18

increase in cell number can be physiologic (hormonal) or pathologic

Question 19

hypertrophy

Answer 19

increase in cell size with production of more subcellular components, physiologic (skeletal muscle) or pathologic (cardiomyocytes)

Question 20

metaplasia

Answer 20

change from one differentiated cell type to another, commonly see in lung epithelium in smoking

Question 21

dysplasia

Answer 21

atypical proliferation of cells: weird size/nuclei, disorderly arrangement and maturation

Question 22

neoplasia

Answer 22

abnormal growth of tissue, can be well or poorly differentiated, autonomous

Question 23

benign neoplasms

Answer 23

growth without invasion or spread, resembles normal cells and well differentiated with low mitotic rate

Question 24

causes of morbitiy with benign neoplasms

Answer 24

size, location, production of cell products

Question 25

parneoplastic syndrome

Answer 25

symptoms stemming from humoral factors from tumor cells, rather than local effects

Question 26

carcinoma in situ

Answer 26

dysplastic changes that do not extend beyond basement membrane

Question 27

carcinoma

Answer 27

malignant growth of epithelial origin invades surrounding tissue beyond basement membrane, most common solid tumor

Question 28

sarcoma

Answer 28

malignant growth of mesenchymal origin, more common in kids/adolescents

Question 29

osteogenic sarcoma

Answer 29

bone sarcoma

Question 30

chondrosarcoma

Answer 30

cartilage sarcoma

Question 31

rhabdosarcoma

Answer 31

skeletal muscle

Question 32

adenocarcinoma

Answer 32

gladular epithelium neoplasm

Question 33

teratoma

Answer 33

mixed cellular origin

Question 34

histologic grade

Answer 34

3 levels of differentiation:
well, moderate, and poor;
in well you can tell where it came from and in poor it is a mess of cells

Question 35

anatomic stage

Answer 35

extent of the spread: TMN= Tumor size, Node involvement, and Metastasis