Cancer, stem cell and cancer stem cells

Question 1

What is a stem cell?

Answer 1

A cell which can self-renew and differentiate

Question 2

Totipotent

Answer 2

Can differentiate into anything

Question 3

Pluripotent

Answer 3

Can make all somatic cells

Question 4

Multipotent

Answer 4

Can make many different cell types

Question 5

Unipotent

Answer 5

Can make only one cell type

Question 6

What restricts potency?

Answer 6

development age

tissue restriction

Question 7

What type of property is potency

Answer 7

a CELL property, not a STEM CELL property

Question 8

What can a zygote give rise to?

Answer 8

Every cell which makes an embryo

Question 9

What is a zygote?

Answer 9

NOT A STEM CELL

2 cell blastomere - as the cell makes new ones, the cell loses mass and becomes a new cell

Question 10

What are the types of stem cells?

Answer 10

Embryonic stem cells

Adult stem cells

Question 11

Describe embryonic stem cells

Answer 11

in vitro cells from early mammalian or mice blastocytes
pluripotent
immortal

Question 12

Describe adult stem cells

Answer 12

exist in many tissues
normally contribute to tissue maintenance
number, properties and functions vary

Question 13

What are the somatic stem cell characteristics?

Answer 13

Rare 
Slow cell cycle 
Unspecialised 
Usually respect germ layer boundaries 
Symmetric or assymetric cell division 
Present in many adult tissues

Question 14

Regeneration

Answer 14

homeostasis and repair of tissues with a natural turnover e.g. blood

Question 15

Reserve cells

Answer 15

for injury repair - muscle

Question 16

somatic cell properties

Answer 16

short lived

post-mitotic - mature cell which is no longer able to undergo mitosis

Question 17

Describe progenitor cells

Answer 17

able to differentiate into a specific cell type
tend to be pushed to differentiate into a specific target cell
can only divide a certain number of times
do not self-renew

Question 18

What cells are commonly have cancer-causing mutations?

Answer 18

Progenitor cells

Stem cells

Question 19

What is the normal situation for cell development?

Answer 19

Stem cell self renews -> progenitor cell formation -> oligolineage precursor -> mature cells

Question 20

What happens to both cancerous stem cells and progenitor cells?

Answer 20

They stop differentiating and keep self-renewing

Question 21

Teratomas

Answer 21

germ cell tumour - begins in cells which give rise to sperm or eggs

Question 22

What are the two types of teratomas?

Answer 22

Mature teratomas - include dermoid cysts - usually benign

Immature teratomas - cancerous

Question 23

Teteratocarcinomas

Answer 23

a malignant epithelial tumour arising in a teratoma

Small set of cells, small cytoplasm and a large nucleus

Question 24

Embryonal carcinoma cells

Answer 24

If you put a teratocarcinoma into a healthy mouse it will make a brand new tumour which looks identical to the size of the original cells and it is malignant.

Question 25

Cancer stem cell

Answer 25

A cancer cell with stem cell properties - able to self-renew and differentiate
- doesn’t have to be a stem cell which got cancer

Question 26

Evidence of CSC in progenitor cells

Answer 26

Acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) in SCID mice
Expansion of AML-colony forming unit (CFU) but poor proliferation in vitro
Only CD34+, CD38- could, similar to haemapoietic stem cells
Most likely early progenitor cells (CD90-)